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Golden Thoughts 



FROM THE 



LIFE AND WORKS 



FRANCES RIDLEY HA VERGAL 



* With heart-threads of crimson, 
And soul-threads of gold. 
The life- web is woven, 
Swift fold upon fold " 



New York 
E. P. DUTTON AND CO 
31 West 23d Street 
1802 




•H4T 




Copyright, 1892, 
B7 E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



PREFACE. 



"With heart -threads of crimson, 
And soul-threads of gold; " 

Nor would it be amiss to enlarge the figure with 
threads dyed in the black of sorrow, the neutral- 
tint of patience, the ever-green of hope, and so 
on through the whole color-scale of feeling and 
thought, emotion and event, from which a life- 
fabric takes its hues and pattern : — for of all such 
is this volume woven, drawn from the life and 
works of one who diligently learned that she 
might teach, and humbly taught that she might 
learn. Still, the "crimson and gold" may not 
inaptly stand for them all; — the one being under- 
stood to imply whatever belongs to the more hu- 
man and circumstantial side of existence, — the 
pursuits, pains, passions, joys, and trials, inci- 
dent to earth; the other, all that touches its 
diviner and more spiritual side, — the soul's finely 
wrought and twisted gold of faith, hope, love, 
and devotion, gleaming in and out through all 



4 PREFACE. 

the varied texture. No attempt is made to weave 
them into any definite, continuous pattern; though 
two or more are now and then put side by side, 
for mutual illustration or enrichment. But *n 
general, continuity is rather avoided than sought 
for, in recognition of the fact that a motto, a text, 
or a paragraph, often gains both force and clearness 
from isolation. The mind is enabled to remain 
in contact therewith long enough to receive a 
clear-cut impression, and to follow out its own 
inevitably suggested line of thought, — which, it 
is scarcely necessary to add, is in no two cases the 
same. 

Nevertheless, those who care to look for it will 
not fail to find a sufficiently connected and pro- 
gressive spiritual history indicated by the seem- 
ingly scattered threads. It will be seen how Miss 
f Iavergal's early experience of doubt ripened into 
faith, and faith into consecration, and consecra- 
tion into praise. It will be observed how the 
shadowy fears and perplexities of a fastidious and 
imaginative youth were dispelled, when the due 
time and occasion came, by a burst of inward 
sunshine, compared with which, she says, all that 
she had previously experienced was " but as pale 
and passing April gleams to the fulness of sum- 



PREFACE. 5 

mer glory." It will be noted furthernf ore that 
this brightness ripened into a i ' perfect day " of 
such faith and confidence in her Saviour, in His 
power to keep and to save, that her final passage 
through the so-called Valley of Shadow reads as 
if it must have been to her a Valley of Light. 
Thus, the book is, in some sense, an autobiog- 
raphy, — unconsciously written, with frequent gaps, 
few dates, and no very precise order of chronol- 
ogy, but none the less significant and suggestive 
to a thoughtful reader. It follows that some 
small part of its contents are chosen less for their 
absolute than their relative value; they are meant 
to illustrate traits of character, not powers of 
mind. Not only bright thoughts and wise words, 
but facts and fancies, incidents of home-life and 
of travel, characteristic turns of expression and 
thought, confidences about work and methods of 
working, momentary moods and settled opinions, 
have been gathered from various sources and light- 
ly twisted together, in the conviction that, to one 
reader or another, each will have its charm or its 
value, while the mass will give a scarcely less cor- 
rect idea of Miss Havergal's character than a la- 
bored memoir. Her life lends itself the more 
readily to. this treatment because its outward facts. 



6 PREFACE. 

so far as given to the public, have neither romait 
tic interest nor necessary sequence; putting aside 
birth and death, they might almost as well be read 
backwards as forwards. She was the youngest 
daughter of a clergyman of the English Church; 
she was born at Astley, Worcestershire, Dec. 14th, 
1836; she was educated partly in England, partly 
in Germany; she lived for longer or shorter peri- 
ods at Hallow, Worcester, Shareshill, and Leam- 
ington; she made several visits to France and 
Switzerland; and she died at Caswell Bay, Wales, 
June 3rd, 1879, whither she had gone to find a 
partial respite from the growing strain of her busy, 
crowded life. Although most widely known as 
a poetess, and next as the author of certain prose 
works scarcely less remarkable for practical teach- 
ing than for fervent devotion, she was also an ac- 
complished musician, published many original 
compositions, edited ' ' Havergal's Psalmody, " and 
assisted in other editorial musical work. At the 
same time, she performed an amount of mission- 
ary and charitable labor that would make a fair 
showing for an avowed sister of charity. And all 
this with a health that seems never to have been 
perfect, and sundry interruptions from severe and 
protracted illness. No "idle singer of an idle 



PREFACE. 7 

day" was she ! — a vast amount of earnest living 
gave impulse and aim to her thoughtful writing. 
Her home duties were never neglected; as a 
daughter, step-daughter, sister, and aunt, she 
was singularly loving and helpful; yet she found 
time to respond to the demands of a wide circle 
of friends, a large and exacting correspondence, 
several benevolent societies, — in short, to lend a 
willing hand to almost every good work that 
came in her way. Had she ambitiously sought 
to excel in one thing only, she might have won 
wider earthly fame, but it may be questioned if 
the " Well done" of the Master, to whom alone 
she looked for reward, would have been any more 
emphatic. Entire devotion to a single object de- 
mands a certain asceticism of character, a deliber- 
ate narrowing of sympathies, a quiet ignoring of 
kindred claims, which, while we may be glad that 
it is possible to some, we may be equally glad 
is not so to all. Miss Havergal belonged to 
the latter class. She believed that she heard 
her Master's call to be active in more than one 
of His fields, and she responded with an alacrity 
in each, and a whole-heartedness in all, which it 
is rare to see. Her published works were but the 
outer circles of many inner rings of usefulness, 



8 PREFACE. 

continually widening forth from a living centre 
of such loving loyalty, such untiring energy, in 
The Master's service, as every fellow-servant must 
be the better for contemplating, however much 
he may differ from her in minor things. Espe- 
cially in days like these, when the indefiniteness 
that was once the special characteristic of doubt 
is insinuating itself into the sphere of belief, and 
the light which is in us is too often the darkness 
of hesitancy and mental reservation, it is good to 
read of a faith so frank and firm, a light so bright 
and unwavering, as shine forth in the life and 
death of Frances Ridley Havergal. 



LIST OF BOOKS, Etc., 



KEY TO ALPHABETICAL LETTERS. 



Swiss Letters a. 

Correspondence b. 

Kept for the Master's Use c. 

My King d. 

The Royal Invitation e. 

The Royal Bounty f. 

The Royal Commandments g. 

Little Pillows h 

Morning Bells /. 

Morning Stars J, 

Miscellaneous Papers, Addresses, Conversa- 
tions, etc k. 

My Bible Study /. 



GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 



" Some are touched with liquid sunbeams, 
Some with fire and some with tears; 
Some with crimson dyes are glowing — 
From a smitten life-rock flowing 
Through the wilderness of years. " 

— Hidden Leaves. 

How rife everything in spring seems with 
beautiful emblems. I don't mean such as 
are already down in poetry books, but those 
wildly lovely, intangible similes which flit 
across the mind, like the shadows of a fly- 
ing bird ! Ik 

I believe that everything earthly con- 
tains analogies of the heavenly, but that 
we have not yet the key to all the golden 
ciphers; and it may be that our yet " un- 
purged vision " is not capable of reading 
them, beyond a certain point. This too, 
all designedly, is the material fitted and 
planned to reflect the spiritual. k. 



2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

" Under His Shadow." I seem to see 
four pictures suggested by that: under the 
shadow of a rock in a weary plain; under 
the shadow of a tree; closer still, under 
the shadow of His wing; nearest and clos- 
est, in the shadow of His hand. Surely 
that hand must be the pierced hand, that 
may oftentimes press us sorely, and yet 
evermore encircling, upholding, and shad- 
owing ! k. 

Take Psalm xxiii. 6 as a birthday text : 
only, the goodness and mercy are follow- 
ing all the days, even when their bright 
outline is lost in the shadow of closely 
pressing trials, and sometimes in our own 
shadow. b. 



What an addition to the enjoyment of 
the great, the small can be ! a. 



How very sweet those words are, "I 
write unto you, little children, because 
your sins are forgiven you for His name's 
sake." They have comforted me, for I am 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 3 

but a little child, only a babe in the spir- 
itual life, and this seems so tenderly ad- 
dressed to such. But oh that I could grow 
up in Him ! b. 

On no form of " The Beautiful " is " pass- 
ing away " so engraven as on music; I have 
felt this with painful vividness. In " pass- 
ing away" lies its very essence, not merely 
its accidents. The most exquisite passage, 
if lingered on, loses its very existence as 
well as beauty; the time, the motion, is 
the life, the actual notes only a dead let- 
ter without it; while to hold it is simply 
an inherent impossibility. k. 



I like to think about the Lord Jesus as 
He is in Himself, not only in relation to 
myself. b. 

The very little things, the microscopi- 
cal helpings, often seem most marvellous 
of all, when we consider that it was Jeho- 
vah Himself who stooped to the tiny need 
of a moment. And the greater matters 



4 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

prove themselves to be the Lord's doing, 
just because they are so marvellous in 
our eyes. f> 

In school at Diisseldorf I stood alone 
(as far as I know) among the one hundred 
and ten girls. I do not think there was 
one besides myself who cared for religion. 
This was very bracing. I felt I must try 
to walk worthy of my calling, for Christ's 
sake. k- 

Your "few things" may be very few, 
and very small things, but He expects 
you to be faithful over them. i. 



How little we know each other's need ! 
How often the text we want to send must 
be a bow drawn at a venture ! b. 



By some means or other He has to 
teach us to trust implicitly at every step 
of the way. And so, if we did not really 
trust in this matter, He has had to let us 
find out our want of trust by withholding 



FRANCES RIDLE V HA VERGAL. 5 

the sensible part of the blessing, and thus 
stirring us up to find out why it is with- 
held, c. 



No one professing to be a Christian at 
all could possibly have had a more cloudy, 
fearing, doubting, sinning, and wandering 
heart history than mine has been through 
many years. b. 

And I am quite sure that nothing, in the 
way of earthly and external trials, could 
have been to me what the inner darkness 
and strife and utter weariness of spirit, 
through the greater part of these years, 
has been. k. 



Some day, when we are where they 
reckon not by days and years, He will 
tell you why He has tried you, and let 
you look back on your life-story and see 
the golden thread of His fatherly love and 
care shining over and around it all, — not 
as it is now, winding in and out, and only 
seen by glimpses. b. 



6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

In Llyn Dinas I saw an effect quite new 
to me. The slanting sunlight took the 
ripples at just such an angle that an ex- 
quisite gold network, waving and gleam- 
ing upon the dark brown stones, was pro- 
duced, in some places concentrating like 
a golden web, in others like open trellis 
work. The harmony of color, the rich 
warm brown of the stones with the in- 
tense gold, was not a combination we 
should have struck out. My favorite 
mountain verse is: "Unto Thee, O Lord, 
do we give thanks, for that Thy name 
is near Thy wondrous works declare." b. 



Music seems the only universal lan- 
guage understood by men of every tongue 
and age, and by the angels too. It is an 
alphabet of the language of heaven, not 
any more equal to it than an A B C book- 
is to Milton. Why should such a mys- 
teriously subtle and unaccountable grati- 
fication have been provided for us ? Ver- 
ily He is Love ! k, 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 7 

His Love " for thee." Not a passive, 
possible love, but an outflowing, yes, out- 
pouring of the real, glowing, personal love 
of His mighty and tender heart. Love not 
as an attribute, a quality, a latent force, 
but an acting, moving, reaching, touch- 
ing, and grasping power. Love, not a 
cold, beautiful, far-off star, but a sunshine 
that comes and enfolds us, making us 
warm and glad, and strong and bright 
and fruitful. c. 



What a suffocating feeling it is, leaving 
school for ever — a period, an era, com- 
pletely passed and left behind ! One feels 
that childhood is over now, and a sense 
of tenfold increased responsibility and 
independence, so to speak, is a weight 
upon the spirit. The strings seem loosed 
which have hitherto bound and yet pro- 
tected one, — a child's obedience and dili- 
gence. . . Now a different place in life, 
in society, and in one's own family must 
be occupied; more is expected from one, 
many a little burden from which the child 



8 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

is exempt must now be taken up volun- 
tarily. . . Many a power of mind must 
be exercised which, as yet, has had little 
opportunity to try its flight; judgment and 
discretion in a thousand things are need- 
ful; one must think and act far more for 
one's self; self-denial must be learnt; oh so 
much has to be done ! k. 



"Do Thou for me!" Only a loving 
heart can pray it. For nobody likes an- 
other to take them and their affairs in 
hand, and " do " for them, unless that 
other is cordially loved. We might sub- 
mit to it, but we should not like it, and 
certainly should not seek it. f. 



Do not spoil the chime of this morn- 
ing's bells by ringing only half a peal ! 
Do not say, "Hold thou me up," and stop 
there, or add, " But, all the same, I shall 
stumble and fall ! " Finish the peal with 
God's own music, the bright words of faith 
that He puts into your mouth, " Hold 
thou me up, and I shall be safe ! " /. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 9 

A little child may strengthen the hands 
of a giant and veteran in the faith, and it 
is just the giants and veterans who do not 
say to the more feeble members, " I have 
no need of you." g. 

He gives us different work to do, but all 
His work. b. 



It is important to remember that there 
is no much or little in God's sight, except 
as relatively to our means and willing- 
ness, c. 

Not the least interesting part of moun- 
taineering is the perpetual upspringing of 
lessons and illustrations and analogies. 
Sometimes an idea starts up which has, 
for one's self, all the delicious charm of a 
quite new thought, though very likely it 
may have flashed upon the minds of scores 
of other travellers; sometimes a very old 
and familiar one presents itself, and we 
have the pleasure of proving it, perhaps 
for the first time, by practical experi- 
ence, a. 



io GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Like little children, we have been 
brought hither, on purpose that He may 
show us all this. " Hither," to the ver> 
place, the very point, where we now are. 
We did not come of ourselves; we were 
" brought." Very likely we should have 
gone to some other place, and aimed at 
some other point. But He brought us 
hither, with gracious intent of revelation. 
It may have been a stififclimb up the " very 
high mountain;" but who minds that, if 
he really believes in the promised view ? 

& 

We started at 3.45 A.M., and from the 
stillness of the hillside overlooking the 
great Aletsch glacier watched an Alpine 
dawn. In the east was a calm glory of 
expectant light, as if something alto- 
gether celestial must come next, instead 
of merely the usual sun. In the south 
and west, "clear as crystal," stood the 
grandest mountains, white and saintly, is 
if they might be waiting for the resurrec- 
tion, with the moon shining in paling 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. II 

radiance over them, and the deep Rhone 
valley, dark and gravelike, below. Sud- 
denly the first roseflush touched the Mis- 
chabel; then Monte Leone was trans- 
figured by the wonderful rose-fire, delicate 
yet intense. When the Weisshorn came 
to life (most beautiful of all, more per- 
fectly lovely than any earthly thing I ever 
yet saw) the Matterhorn caught the same 
resurrection light on its dark and evil- 
looking rock peak. It was like a volcano, 
lurid and awful, and gave the impression 
of a fallen angel, impotently wrathful, 
shrinking away from the serene glory of 
a holy angel, which that of the Weisshorn 
at dawn might represent, if any material 
thing could. The eastern ridges were al- 
most jet, with just a tinge of purple, in 
front of the great golden glow into which 
the "daffodil sky" rapidly heightened, 
till the sun rose, and the great dawn 
splendor was over. a. 



Is it not sweet of the Master to give us 
such days as these? It is not merely "all 



12 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

our need," but delicious extra things too, 
such treats as this has been. He planned 
it all for us. k. 



Unbelief and forgetfulness are the only 
shadows which can come between us and 
His presence; though, when they have 
once made the separation, there is room 
for all others. f. 

Did you ever hear of any one being very 
much used for Christ who did not have 
some special waiting time, some complete 
upset of all his or her plans first; from 
St. Paul's being sent off into the desert of 
Arabia for three years, when he must have 
been boiling over with the glad tidings, 
down to the present day? b. 



God's love being unchangeable, He is 
just as loving when we do not see or 
feel His love. Also His sovereignty and 
His love are co-equal and universal; so 
He withholds the enjoyment and con- 
scious progress, because He knows best 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 13 

what will really ripen and further His 
work in us. b. 



You will know how a star can rise after 
you have seen it on a clear night, when a 
snow mountain seems its stepping-stone 
to its place in the sky. a. 



I send for your birthday the result of a 
year's daily and loving thought for you 
[a Bible marked\ It is the worse for 
wear, having been with me in boxes, 
bags, and pockets. I have marked what 
struck me as containing food, light, and 
teaching of some sort. b. 



God keeps writing a commentary on 
His Word in the volume of our own ex- 
perience. That is, in so far as we. put 
that volume into His hands, and do not 
think to fill it with our own scribble, f. 



It is impossible to realize the height of 
mountains from below, the higher we are, 



14 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the grander they look. Is it not so in 
other things ? A certain proportionate 
elevation is essential to appreciation, a. 



Listen again to the twin promises, nega- 
tive and positive, in their all-inclusive sim- 
plicity: "No good thing will He withhold 
from them that walk uprightly"; and 
"The Lord will give that which is good.'' 
And yet your secret feeling is, that if you 
come and give yourself up to Him, you 
will have to go without all sorts of things 
that you fancy are good and nice and 
pleasant, and that you will find yourself 
let in for all sorts of things which do not 
seem to you "good" at all ! Is this fair, 
when He has said positively just the op- 
posite ? €t 



Death seemed around me; "passing 
away" earth's motto; "vanity" life's key- 
note. As the beautiful spring came on 
there was a mist of melancholy over the 
very flowers: they had opened, well, what 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 1$ 

matter? they would fade again, and so 
would everything ! b. 



Look into your own heart and you 
will find a copy of that inscription al- 
ready traced, " Shall thirst again." And 
the characters are being deepened with 
every attempt to quench the inevitable 
thirst and weariness in life, which can 
only be satisfied and rested in full conse- 
cration to God. For "Thou hast made 
us for Thyself, and the heart never rest- 
eth till it findeth rest in Thee." To-day 
I tell you of a brighter and happier life, 
whose inscription is, " Shall never thirst" 
— a life that is no dull round-and-round, 
in a circle of unsatisfactorinesses, but a life 
that has found its true and entirely satis- 
factory centre, and set itself towards a 
shining and entirely satisfactory goal, 
whose brightness is cast over every step 
of the way. c. 

Do you really wish it ? Then that wish 
is like a messenger sent to prepare the 



1 6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

way before Him; but wishing is not 
enough — " Now then do it ! " h. 



Peter was a good swimmer, but he did 
not say, " Lord, help me to swim ! " He 
said, " Lord, save me ! " and so the Mas- 
ter's help was instant and complete. e. 



Not many steps — not even two or three 
from one to the other, but one step from 
death unto life; the foot lifted from the 
hollow crust over the volcanic fire, and 
set upon the Rock of salvation. e. 



In the afternoon we took a boat for a 
two hours' sail on the lake, and saw the 
Jungfrau and Monch and Eiger in delicious 
restful leisure; and the mountains looked 
at leisure too, so still and mighty and un- 
approachable by any human bustle and 
hurry and ferment. 

So now the dream of all my life is real- 
ized, and I have seen snow mountains ! 
When I was quite a little child the idea of 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 1 7 

them took possession of me 1 ; at eight or 
nine years old I used to reverie about 
them, and when I heard the name of the 
snow-covered Sierra de la Summa Par. 
(perfect peace) the idea was completed, 
and I thenceforth always thought of eter- 
nal snow and perfect peace together, and 
longed to see the one and drink in the 
other. And I am not disappointed, not 
in the very least; they are just as pure 
and bright and peace-suggestive as ever 
I dreamt them. It may be rather in the 
style of the old women who invariably 
say "it's just like heaven" whenever 
they get a comfortable tea meeting; but 

1 " She was kneeling on the chair, leaning her little 
arms on the window-seat, and feeling as if she wished she 
had something to lean her little heart on too. The clouds 
had been her great friends since she had had no trees to sit 
in and make up fancies about. Sometimes she watched the 
clouds and wondered all sorts of things about them, and 
especially wished she could reach the splendid white ones 
which looked like snow mountains that could be climbed 
and rested upon. 

" Poor child ! there are other bright things besides 
shining clouds, which when reached are only mist and 
tears." — The Four Happy Days. 



1 8 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

really I never saw anything material and 
earthly which so suggested the ethereal 
and heavenly, which so seemed to lead up 
to the unseen, to be the very steps of the 
Throne; and one could better fancy them 
to be the visible foundations of the invisi- 
ble celestial city, bearing some wonder- 
ful relation to its transparent gold and 
crystal sea, than only snow and granite 
rising out of this same every-day earth 
we are treading, dusty and stony. tf. 



Experience of life is a great commen- 
tary on the Bible, and a sort of realization 
of it. At first, the Bible is a detailed map, 
which we study and admire; but on the 
road we find the very same things noticed, 
but not realized, in one's map. Many of 
the hills and valleys I had read of (and 
only read of), in the Psalms, seem to have 
come across my own journey of late. It 
has been so to-day with Isaiah xxvi. 3, 
which is rather like sitting under the shad- 
ow of a great rock, which was marked in 



FRANCES RIDLE Y EI A VERGAL. 19 

one's map, but was not in sight a few days 
ago. k. 

Mine has been such a shady Christian 
life, yet " He led them forth by the right 
way" must somehow be true here, though 
I don't see how. I ought to make one 
exception; I have learned a real sympa- 
thy with others walking in darkness, and 
sometimes it has seemed to help me to 
help them. b. 

I shall know some day why my Fa- 
ther left me to walk thus alone in my 
early childhood, why such long years of 
dissatisfaction and restlessness were ap- 
portioned me, while others fancied me a 
happy thoughtless child. But He must 
have been teaching me, and " who teach- 
eth like Him ? " k. 



It is only now that we can go with 
Jesus into conflict, suffering, loneliness, 
weariness. It is only nozv that we can 
come to the help of the Lord against the 



20 



GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 



mighty in this great battlefield. Shall we 
shrink from opportunities which are not 
given to the angels ? "• 

A showery day ended in a splendid 
evening, and when we came out of church 
the Jungfrau was glowing with that inde- 
scribable tint, golden snow with a touch 
of rose, shining out between two dark 
heights magnificent in purple and green 
and bronze, with a coronet of the fresh 
snow lingering on their summits, and the 
shadows of the western mountains dark- 
ening the fir woods of their base and sides. 
I overheard a little girl say, " Mamma, I 
think the Jungfrau would do to form the 
great white throne of God." That ex- 
presses it. a ' 

I have not had a single poem come to 
me for some time, till last night, when 
one shot into my mind. All my best 
have come in that way, Minerva fashion, 
full grown. It is so curious, one minute 
I have not an idea of writing anything, 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 21 

the next I have a poem; it is mine, I see 
it all, except laying out rhymes and me- 
tre, which is then easy work ! I rarely 
write anything which has not come thus. 
"Our Hidden Leaves" is the title; I won- 
der how you would work it out after this 
beginning: 

"Oh the hidden leaves of life, 

Closely folded in the breast \ " > 

b. 

His will "for thee." Think first of the 
infinite might of that will; the first great 
law and the first great force of the uni- 
verse, from which alone every other law 
and every other force has sprung, and to 
which all are subordinate. c. 



One does so long for all who are look- 
ing to Him for salvation to be " true- 
hearted," " whole-hearted." And I have 
been thinking how inevitably half-hearted 
Christians will be at a disadvantage when 
" He cometh," as compared with those 

i Poems, p. 135. 



22 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

whose whole gladness is from Him only, 
and whose whole interests are centered 
in His kingdom and that which advances 
it. b ' 

It is not a matter of course that com- 
ing is followed by cleaving. e- 



If we ourselves are kept all for Jesus, 
then our influence will be all kept for Him 
too. If not, then, however much we may 
wish and talk and try, we cannot throw 
our full weight into the right scale. And 
just in so far as it is not in the one scale, 
it must be in the other; weighing against 
the little which we have tried to put in 
the right one, and making the short weight 
still shorter. c. 

One never gets perfection, or if one ap- 
proaches it, it vanishes; and so here: we 
were rejoicing in the dreamlike, ideal ef- 
fect of darkness falling upon the cathedral 
while the music was going on, shadows 
growing deeper, roof and aisle darkening 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 23 

into mysterious grand gloom, no light but 
a faint paleness through the tracery of the 
windows, one tiny lamp like a star near 
the altar, and a sort of veiled glimmer 
from the organ-loft just quivering up to 
the great pipes and suggesting a hidden 
source of life and power somewhere among 
them; — it was precisely what one imagined 
as the right scene for such sounds, — when 
up stalks an odious old verger, with creak- 
ing shoes and a horrid flaring lamp, and 
lights two vile great candles, one on the 
pillar just over our heads and the other 
just opposite, right in our eyes ! a. 



How much pleasure I have had ! all I 
wish and all I need; but am I having my 
good things here ? I wish I knew which 
Master I am serving. Should I let go my 
hold on Christ so often and so readily, if 
mine were a true hold on Him ? b. 



The contrasts are very great, some of the 
loveliest, quietest little dingles imagina- 



24 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

ble. You might be in England or Wales, 
all green and ferny and shady, little tum- 
bling brooks and stepping stones; and then 
you look up and see something fifteen thou- 
sand feet high through the branches ! a. 



Have I faith? Once introduce that/, 
and you get bewildered between faith and 
feeling. b. 

There may be very much unconscious 
blessing apart from sensible light and joy. 
The visible, light-bearing rays of the spec- 
trum are not the whole beam. It is not 
they which make the plant grow; it is the 
dark rays with their mysterious, unseen 
vibrations that bring heat and chemical 
power. g. 

I look at trial and training of every kind 
in the light, not of its effect upon one's self 
for one's self, but its gradual fitting of me 
to do the Master's work. So, in very 
painful spiritual darkness or conflict, it 
has already comforted me to think that 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 25 

God might be leading me through strange 
dark ways, so that I might afterward be 
His messenger to some of His children in 
similar distress. b. 



The more we sit at His feet and watch 
to see what He has to say to ourselves, 
the more we shall have to tell to others. 
He does not send us out with sealed dis- 
patches, which we know nothing about, 
and with which we have no concern, c. 



He who prepares the workers prepares 
the works too, and prepares them for us 
to walk in, i.e., just to go on step by step; 
for that is " walking." k. 



I have a curious vivid sense, not merely 
of my verse faculty in general being given 
me, but also of every separate poem or 
hymn, nay every line, being given. It is 
peculiarly pleasant thus to take it as a 
direct gift, not a matter of effort, but pure- 
ly involuntarily And so I 



20 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

think this very sense of not having gift 3 
is the best and most useful gift of them 
all. It is so much sweeter to have to look 
up to Him for every word one writes. 1 
often smile when people call me " gifted," 
and think how little they know the real 
state of the case, which is that I not only 
feel that I can't, but really cant, write a 
single verse unless I go to Him for it and 
get it from Him. b. 



Poetry is a seco?td translation of the 
soul's feeling; it must be rendered into 
thought, and thought must change its 
nebulous robe of semi-wording into defi- 
nite language, before it reaches another 
heart. Music is a first translation of feel- 
ing, needing no second, but entering the 
heart direct. k. 



1 know that longing for music so well, 
though I do not think many know what 
it is. Sometimes I have thought that this 
very " music-thirst" is part of God's gentle 
discipline, leaving us with that thirst in- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 27 

stilled, just that we may turn afresh to 
that which stills all longings, the music 
of His name. b. 



It would be too bad not to trust Him, 
wouldn't it ? He will not, cannot change, 
even if your trust should be weak and 
flickering (2 Tim. ii. 13; Jas. i. 3, 4). b. 



"Do Thou for me!" There is sure to 
be a preface to this prayer, — " Neither 
know we what to do." Perhaps we have 
been shrinking from being brought to this. 
Rather let us give thanks for it. It is the 
step down from the drifting wreck on to 
the ladder still hanging at the side. Will 
another step be down into the dark water ? 
Go on, a little lower still, fear not ! The 
next is, "We know not what we should 
pray for." Now we have reached the 
lowest step. What next ? " Do Thou 
for me." This is the step into the cap- 
tain's boat. Now He will cut loose from 
the wreck of our efforts, ladder and all ' 
will be left behind, and we have nothing 



28 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

to do but to "sit still" and let Him take 
us to our " desired haven," probably steer- 
ing quite a different course from anything 
we should have thought best. Not sel- 
dom "immediately the ship is at the land 
whither " we went. f. 



Let Him teach you His paths, and ask 
Him to make not your way, but " Thy 
way straight before my face." So shall 
you find the completeness and the sweet- 
ness of His guidance. g. 



I want to make the most of my life and 
to do the best with it, but here I feel my 
desires and motives need much purify- 
ing; for, even where all would sound fair 
enough in words, an element of self, of 
lurking pride, may be detected. Oh, that 
He would indeed purify me and make me 
white at any cost ! b. 



Few things have a more salutary effect 
upon me than reading secular biographies. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 29 

For, successful or unsuccessful alike, " van- 
ity of vanities" seems the truest character- 
istic of every life not devoted to the very, 
highest aim. b. 

A power utterly new and unexpected 
was given me, 1 and rejoicing in this I for- 
got the Giver, and found such delight in 
it that other things paled before it. It 
need not have been so; and, in better mo- 
ments, I prayed that if it were indeed hin- 
dering me, the gift of song might be with- 
drawn. And now that through my ill 
health it is so, and the pleasure of pub- 
lic applause when singing in the Philhar- 
monic concerts is not again to exercise 
its delicious delusion, I do thank Him 
who heard my prayer. But I often pray 
in the dark, as it were, and feel no re- 
sponse from above. Is this to test me ? b. 



Are you satisfied ? I do not mean, are 
you tolerably contented and comfortable 

1 Solo singing, and musical composition. 



30 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

on the whole and in a general way when 
things are at their best? But, satisfied! 
— thedeepunder-the-surfacerest and com- 
plete satisfaction of the very heart, the 
filling of its emptiness, the stilling of all 
its cravings; and this not during the false 
frothing of excitement or business, but 
when you are alone, when you lie awake 
in the night, when you are shut away from 
any fictitious filling of your cup, and when 
the broken cisterns have leaked out, as 
they will, and do, and must, — are you 
satisfied then ? Verily, He who knew 
what was in man knew that He was not 
narrowing the invitation when He said, 
"If any man thirst, let him come unto 
Me, and drink." e. 



For they [our hands] must be emptied. 
Either we come to our Lord willingly 
about it, letting Him unclasp their hold, 
and gladly dropping the glittering weights 
they have been carrying, or, in very love, 
He will have to force them open, and 
wrench from the reluctant grasp the 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 3 1 

"earthly things" which are so occupying 
them that He cannot have His rightful 
use of them* There is only one other al- 
ternative, a terrible one, — to be let alone 
till the day comes when not a gentle 
Master, but the relentless king of terrors 
shall empty the trembling hands as our 
feet follow him out of the busy world into 
the dark valley, for "it is certain we can 
carry nothing out." c. 



I think I had a far more vivid sense of 
the beauty of nature as a little child than 
I have even now; and its power over me 
was greater than any one would imagine. 
I have hardly felt anything so intensely 
since, in the way of a sort of unbearable 
enjoyment. Especially, and I think more 
than anything else, the golden quiet of a 
bright summer's day used to enter into 
me and do me good. What only some 
great and rare musical enjoyment is to me 
now, the shade of a tree under a clear 
blue sky, with a sunbeam glancing through 



32 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the boughs, was to me then. # But I did 
not feel happy in my very enjoyment; 1 
wanted more. I do not think I was eight 
when I hit upon Cowper's lines, ending 

"My Father made them all." 

That was what I wanted to be able to 
say; and, after once seeing the words, I 
never saw a lovely scene again without 
being teased by them. b. 

He must have presented all those inter- 
cessions for Peter before they heard him 
knocking at the door. b. 

Titus i. 2. Eternal life promised before 
the world began !— to whom ? We were 
not there to receive the promise; — Christ 
received it for us, and holds it for us. /. 



Did you ever think why it is so utterly 
hopeless and useless to try to quench the 
inner thirst with anything but the living 
water, "the supply of the Spirit of Jesus 
Christ"? He has said plainly and posi- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, 33 

tively that you shall not succeed ! He 
hath said, "Whosoever drinketh of this 
water shall thirst again," e. 



We ought not to acquiesce in the shad- 
ows which are only around us because 
we do not hear, or hearing do not heed, 
God's call into the sunshine. d. 



I do so long for deeper and fuller teach- 
ing in my own heart So I want 

Jesus to speak to me, to say "many 
things to me, that I may speak for Him 
to others with real power. It is not 
knowing doctrine, but being with Him, 
which will give this." b. 



Some of us think and say a good deal 
about "a sense of His presence"; some- 
times rejoicing in it, sometimes going 
mourning all the day long because we 
have it not; praying for it, and not al- 
ways seeming to receive what we ask; 
measuring our own position, and some- 



34 GOLD EX THOUGHTS. 

times even that of others, by it; now or 
the heights, now in the depths about it. 
And ail this April-like gleam and gloom 
instead of steady summer glow, because 
we are turning our attention upon the 
sense of His presence, instead of the 
changeless reality of it ! /• 



Not that we should pray less, but listen 
more We may miss the sweet- 
est whispers of His love by not saying, 
"Speak, Lord," and not hushing ourselves 
to hear. **. 

This morning I opened on Deuteronomy 
xxxii. 2, "My speech shall distil as the 
dew." It seemed a direct answer from 
Him, for one does not see the dew fall, 
one never sees it at all till morning, and 
then ! So perhaps He is speaking to me 
more than I think for, and, when the 
4i afterward" comes, it may be that I shall 
find He has said a good deal to me after 
all.! b - 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 35 

Bows drawn at a venture hit in a way 
that astonishes ourselves, when God puts 
His own arrows on the string. d. 



" Debate thy cause with thy neighbor 
himself, and discover not a secret to an- 
other; " and, " go and tell him his fault 
between thee and him alone!' Yet away 
we go, and tell somebody else about it 
instead ! g. 

Those who think they have only a very 
small talent, are often most tempted not 
to trade with it for their Lord. c. 



We have such a nice little quiet shady 
corner in the vineyard, down among the 
tender grapes, with such easy little weed- 
ings and waterings to attend to. And 
then the Master comes and draws us out 
into the thick of the work, and puts us 
into a part of the field where we never 
should have thought of going, and puts 
larger tools into our hands, that we may 



36 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

do more at a stroke. And we know we 
are not sufficient for these things, and the 
very tools seem too heavy for us, and the 
glare too dazzling, and the vines too tall. 
Ah ! but would we really go back ? He 
would not be in the old shady corner with 
us now; for when He put us forth He 
went before us, and it is only by close 
following that we can abide with Him. /. 



Not under the shadow of even a God- 
given gourd, but under His own shad- 
ow, may you sit down "with great de- 
light." ' g- 

Perhaps in heaven we shall be permitted 
to remember all the way the Lord led us, 
to recall distinctly all the puzzling parts 
of His guidance and providence, and so to 
see glory reflected back from them, as it 
were, upon His wonderful wisdom. b. 



It is often helpful to read straight 
through one or more of the gospels with 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 37 

a special thought on our mind, and see 
how much bears upon it. c. 



When I came down to breakfast about 
4.40 a.m., the Matterhorn looked like an 
obelisk of solid gold, a most peculiar ef- 
fect, for on that side we see no other snow 
peak, and all below it was still in shadow, 
deep green and brown, and nothing be- 
tween this and the one immense golden 
rock. a. 



It is a question whether a really thought- 
ful mind could possibly yield the homage 
of its entire being to a God whom it could 
understand and fathom. The instinct of 
such a mind would revolt from it. b. 



You are not always the same to Him. 
When He comes and knocks at the door 
of your heart, you are sometimes ready 
to open; and sometimes you give Him a 
cold, short, careless answer; and some- 
times no answer at all. But He is always 



38 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the same to you; always ready to receive 
you with tender love and pardon when 
you come to Him. "• 

" This same Jesus " is one of the chief 
watchwords of my faith. I constantly 
recur to it, and I think it will be my 
comfort in the dark valley. b. 



[Sunday at Thun.] And rather an 
ideal Sunday too, calm and bright and quiet, 
and with " beauty all around our path." 
I went to the German, or rather Swiss, 
service, guided by the ' 4 sweet bells jan- 
gled," though not " out of tune," only out 
of all order and rhythm, as continental 
bells always are. a * 

As long as we are reasoning about a 
promise, we never know its reality. /. 

We went for a walk, and I found 

an old woman knitting and tending goats 
in a lovely dingle, so I sat down by her 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 39 

and read out of the German Testament, 
apparently to her intense delight, and 
had a most interesting talk with her. 
After that I had nothing particular to 
do; the Gorner glacier was looking most 
bewitching, hardly three miles off, so 
what could I do but walk towards it 
and to it ? I did not meet a living soul, 
and enjoyed immensely being so utterly 
alone in a most wild and beautiful spot, 
where a seemingly full-grown river rushes 
mightily out of a great dark-blue ice cave, 
with great ice pinnacles up above, and 
the full catalogue of Alpine beauty all 

around I gathered a white lily, only 

one, most lovely and lonely, like our yel- 
low garden lilies. Zermatt is in a dif- 
ferent zone of flowers; yellow globe flow- 
ers, large campanulas, two very bright 
rock pinks, and some intense crimson 
rock flowers preponderate. On my way 
back some little white clouds, which 
-looked far too innocent to be hiding any- 
thing, suddenly broke off, and there was 
che Matterhorn right above; the weirdest, 



4 o GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

most unreal looking spectre of a mountain 
you can imagine. It is unquestionably 
the most striking single object that 1 

ever saw or expected to see It 

stands quite alone, no connection with 
any other mountain or range, and seems 
not simply peaked and perpendicular, but 
actually to hook over. Why it does not 
tumble over bodily seems a mystery, a. 

A moment may have been spent in ut- 
tering five words, but they have fed five 
thousand, or even five hundred thou- 
sand. C ' 

The next thing to knowing that "we 
have found Him" is to find wme one 
else, and say, " Come and see ! " e. 

"For Thee!" This makes the differ- 
ence between forced or formal, and there- 
fore unreasonable service, and the "rea- 
sonable service" which is the beginning 
of the perfect service where they see His 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 4* 

face. This makes the difference between 
slave work and free work. c. 



He has left us " an example that yt 
should follow His steps." As the beauti- 
ful collect puts it, " Give us grace that 
we may daily endeavor ourselves to follow 
the blessed steps of His most holy life." 
Now, what are those steps ? Perhaps 
you are not even looking to see what 
they are, let alone following them ! e. 



It makes all the difference ! If we are 
really, and always, and equally ready to 
do whatsoever the King appoints, all the 
trials and vexations arising from any 
change in His appointments, great or 
small, simply do not exist. If He ap- 
points me to work there, shall I lament 
that I am not to work here ? If He ap- 
points me to wait in-doors to-day, am 
I to be annoyed because I am not to 
work out-of-doors ? If I meant to write 
[lis messages this morning, shall I grum- 



42 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

ble because He sends interrupting visitors, 
rich or poor, to whom I am to speak 
them, or " show kindness " for His sake, 
or at least obey His command, " Be cour- 
teous " ? If all my " members " are really 
at His disposal, why should I be put out 
if to-day's appointment is some simple 
work for my hands or errands for my feet, 
instead of some seemingly more impor- 
tant doing of head or tongue ? d. 



Obedience. — All a mockery without this ! 
Not only our lips, but our lives must say, 
" Master!" g. 

" The Lord turned the captivity of Job, 
when he prayed for his friends." Some- 
thing very like a turning of our captivity 
is granted when, amid oppression and 
darkness, we pray for our friends. Often 
it is like a leap into the free sunshine, f. 



It is very humbling when the Spirit's 
light flashes upon some command of our 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 43 

God which we have never " observed/' 
much less "done;" and yet it is a very 
gracious answer to the prayer, "Teach 
me to do Thy will." g. 



Boldness and faith go together; fear 
and unbelief go together. " If ye will 
not believe, surely ye shall not be estab- 
lished. " It is always want of faith that 
is at the bottom of all fear. e. 



Every year shows me more and more 
the utter deceitfulness of the heart: "Who 
can know it?" Oh! the comfort of think- 
ing that there is One who knows it, and 
can therefore cleanse its most hidden 
chambers from their dark pollution. "O 
God, unto whom all hearts be open," etc., 
is one of the sweetest things in our sweet 
Liturgy, to me, and it is wonderful what 
confidence it has often given me. k. 



Down to the very depth of our fall 
went that wonderful love of Christ, to 



44 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the depth of our sin, to the depth of our 
need, to the depth of those caverns of our 
own strange inner being which we our- 
selves cannot fathom, and which only 
His love can fill. /• 



Things are not always bright with the 
little ones, and they do not always get as 
much sympathy as they want, because 
their troubles are not exactly the same 
sort as those of grown-up people. Take 
this little pillow to rest your tired and 
troubled little heart upon to-night, " Thou 
knowest ! " A- 



He understands perfectly just what and 
just when others do not. Not your ac- 
tions merely, but your thought — the cen- 
tral self which no words can reveal to 
others. " All my desire is before Thee." 
He understands how you desired to do 
the right thing when others thought you 
did the wrong thing. He understands 
how His poor weak child wants to please 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 45 

Him, and secretly mourns over grieving 
Him. / 

" I know their sorrows " (Exod. iii. 7) 
is full of intensest comfort when it is 
needed; it is the climax in it which has 
so much struck me as corresponding to 
three degrees of sorrow which I suppose 
all know; anyhow, you do and I do. 
That sorrow which can be seen is the 
lightest form really, however apparently 
heavy; then there is that which is not 
seen, secret sorrows which yet can be put 
into words, and can be told to near friends 
as well as be poured out to God; but there 
are sorrows beyond these, such as are 
never told, and cannot be put into words, 
and may only be wordlessly laid before 
God: these are the deepest. Now comes 
the supply for each: "I have seen" that 
which is patent and external; " I have 
heaid their cry? which is the expression 
of this, and of as much of the internal 
as is expressible; but this would not go 
deep enough, so God adds, I "know their 



4 6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

sorrows," down to very depths of all 
those which no eye sees or ear ever 
heard. 

Do not let us confuse between works 
and fruit. Many a saint in the land of 
Beulah is not able to do anything at all, 
and yet is bringing forth fruit unto God 
beyond the busiest workers. So that 
even when we come to the days when 
" the strong men shall bow themselves," 
there may be more pleasant fruits for our 
Master, riper and fuller and sweeter, than 
ever before. /* 

Next after prayer, nothing is so healing 
and calming as pouring out one's self in 
music. Not in singing; there, one is 
limited by words; but playing, it restores 
the balance marvellously. Convention- 
ality would forbid this "antidote of medi- 
cated music " in some sorrows, but in such 
one can have the outlet of words and the 
. balm of human sympathy; music seems 
an especial medicine for all things in 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 47 

which this is not to be had, or could 
not be sought. k. 



It is not so often a whole sermon as a 
single short sentence in it that wings 
God's arrow to a heart. c. 



" Men see not the bright light that is 

in the clouds." Many bright young 

Christians have never been down in the 
depths of the waves (as I have), and they 
wait for some great cloud to come, instead 
of seeing His light in the little, daily, 
home clouds ! b. 



You cannot be worse than " dead" ; and 
the very sense of sin and death working 
in you is a proof that He has said unto 
you, " Live ! " e. 



Delay in the Lord's errands is next to 
disobedience, and generally springs out 
of it, or issues in it. d. 



48 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

I suppose that God's crosses are often 
made of most unexpected and strange ma- 
terial. Perhaps trial must be felt keenly, 
or it would not be powerful enough as a 
medicine in the hands of our beloved 
Healer. *■ 

Rest is sweet, but service (in proportion 
to our love) is sweeter still. /. 

It was quite dark below except for the 
lights in the village; but up above against 
the dark sky, Mont Blanc, the Dome du 
Goute and the Aiguille du Midi seemed 
robed in that singular holiness of light, 
utterly calm and pure, entirely celestial, 

which is more than rose tints and 

gold; there is nothing like it except the 
smile of holy peace on the face of one 
asleep in Jesus. a - 

" Peace I leave with you " is much ; " My 
peace I give unto you" is more. The 
added word tells the fathomless marvel 
of the gift— " My peace." /• 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 49 

" If any man thirst, let him come." 1$ 
" if" a limitation ? Ask your own heart ! 
Is there any one who does not thirst? In 
other words, is there any one who can say 
before God who searches the heart, " I am 
satisfied. I have no sense of thirst, no 
nameless craving " ? e. 



Earthly joy can take but a bat-like 
flight, always checked, always limited, 
in dusk and darkness. But the love of 
Christ breaks through the vaulting, and 
leads us up into the free sky above, ex- 
panding to the very throne of Jehovah, 
and drawing us " still upward" to the in- 
finite heights of glory. f. 



It was clear cloudless starlight, and 
therefore not dark, when we got away 
from the lights of the hotel. It was very 
curious, this silent march under the stars, 
and quite novel, along a roaring glimmer- 
ing white river and over a little foot bridge, 
then up into the blackness of the pines, 



S o GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

and at last out above them just as a little 
quiver of paleness began to show where 

the dawn was to be looked for 

The sunrise itself was not so fine as some 
we have seen, being golden only and not 
rosy. But we had to perfection that pale, 
clear, saintly, expectant light on the great 
white mountains, 1 which I think so pecu- 
liarly beautiful, before any color comes 
upon the world, and some singular reflec- 
tions of gold clouds upon snow slopes, 
themselves in shadow. <*• 

i " The stars die out, and the moon grows dim, 
Slowly, softly, the dark is paling J 
Comes o'er the eastern horizon-rim, 
Slowly, softly, a bright unveiling. 

The white mist floats in the vale at rest, 

Ghostly, dimly, a silver shiver; 
The golden east and the purple west 

Flushing deep with a crimson quiver. 

The mountains gleam with expectant light, 
Near and grandly, or far and faintly, 

In festal robing of solemn white, 

Waiting, waiting, serene and saintly.' ' 

' < The Mountain Cantata ' 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 51 

Suddenly a cloud rushed up from no- 
where and hid everything; in a few 
minutes it was gone again like a gray 
spirit, leaving no trace or trail, gone no- 
where ! a. 



I don't know why I always seem to 
shrink from writing much, or even any- 
thing, of the " under the surface " life, 
(which is so much more than the " on the 
surface" and the mere surroundings), in 
my circulars. They would be much fuller 
if I told one tithe of the hourly bits of 
gentle guidance and clear lovingkindness 
which make the real enjoyment, or of the 
perpetual little opportunities of a " word 
for Jesus " which He seems to give me, 
and often of real work for Him, which yet 
seem to come so unsought, so easily and 
naturally, so altogether without any effort, 
as to be not felt to be any working at 
all. b. 



All that has been said about consecra- 
tion applies to our literal members. Stay 



s 2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

a minute, and look at your hand, the 
hand that holds this little book as you 
read it. See how wonderfully it is made; 
how perfectly fitted for what it has to do; 
how ingeniously connected with the brain, 
so as to yield that instantaneous and in- 
stinctive obedience without which its beau- 
tiful mechanism would be very little good 
to us! Your hand, do you say ? Whether 
it is soft and fair with an easy life, or 
rough and strong with a working one, or 
white and weak with illness, it is the Lord 
Jesus Christ's. It is not your own at all; 
it belongs to Him. He made it, for with- 
out Him was not anything made that was 
made, not even your hand. 

Does this mean that we are always to 
be doing some definitely "religious" work, 
as it is called ? No, but that all that we 
do is to be always definitely done /or Him. 
There is a great difference. If the hands 
are indeed moving " at the impulse of His 
love," the simplest little duties and acts 
are transfigured into holy service to the 
Lord. c ' 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 53 

He proved His love to you and me to 
be " strong as death; " and when all God's 
waves and billows went over Him, the 
many waters could not quench it. f. 



We must not yield to the idea that, be- 
cause we are feeble members, doing no 
great work, our prayers " won't make 
much difference." It may be that this is 
the very reason why the Lord keeps us in 
the shade, because He hath need of us 
(though we feel no better thai} an " ass's 
colt ") for the work of intercession. Many 
of us only learn to realize the privilege 
of being called to this by being called 
apart from all other work. g. 



Satan even perverts humility into a 
hindrance. d. 



" As for thee, the Lord thy God has 
not suffered thee to do so." What a step- 
ping stone! We give thanks, often with 
a tearful doubtful voice, for our spiritual 



54 



GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 



mercies positive; but what an almost in- 
finite field there is for mercies negative! 
We cannot even imagine all that God has 
suffered us not to do, not to be. 



We need not wish to be taken away 
in the midst of our days, for there is so 
much delightful work to do here, and in 
any case we shall have time-eternity- 
for the glory and the rest. *• 

I had hoped that a kind of table-land 
had been reached in my journey, where 
I might walk awhile in the light, without 
the weary succession of rock and hollow, 
crag and morass, stumbling and striving; 
but I seem borne back into all the old 
difficulties of the way, with many sin- 
made aggravations. I think the great 
root of all my trouble and alienation is 
that I do not now make an unreserved 
surrender of myself to God; and until this 
is done I shall know no peace. I am sure 
ol it. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 55 

Christ will not arrange a partial salva 
tion to meet our partial desire. g. 

It is a solemn thought that the al- 
ternative of "the obedience of Christ" 
is disobedience. f 

The Bible never speaks of "good reso- 
lutions," but again and again of " pur- 
P° se -" d . 

It has often struck me as a matter of 
observation, that open profession adds 
force to influence, on whichever side it 
weighs; and also that it has the effect 
of making many a word and act, which 
might in other hands have been as nearly 
neutral as anything can be, tell with by 
no means neutral tendency on the wrong- 
side. 



It [an illness] was very good for me- 
I was able to feel thankful for it, and 
to be glad that God had taken me in 



56 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

hand as it were. I do not think I would 
have chosen otherwise than as He or- 
dered it for me; but it seems as if my 
spiritual life would never go without 
weights, and I dread needing more dis- 
cipline. 

Every heart has desires, but not even 
every Christian heart delights itself in 
the Lord. This is the reason of the great 
wail of unfulfilled desire— the very howl, 
one might say, which makes a howling 
wilderness of this fair world. g- 

We nave not only to look back at a 
dying Saviour, but to look up at a living 
one. *' 

I am always getting surprises at my 
own stupidity! Why could not I have 
seen that lovely trio of texts ? This only 
confirms my strong belief that if I am 
to write to any good, a great deal of 
living must go to a very little writing, 
and that this is why I have always been 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 57 

held back from writing a tithe of what 
I wanted to write. b. 



Every "kept from" should have its cor- 
responding and still more blessed "kept 
for." c. 

It seems to me that sanctified expecta- 
tion cannot go beyond what God means 
in His promises, any more than an echo 
can out-ring the original sound which 
called it forth. b. 



If He has given us all things, have we 
any business to live as spiritual paupers ? 
Half the reason why we don't praise Him 
as we ought is because we don't really 
believe what great things He has given 
us. k. 



Perhaps, if Eve had fully availed herself 
of God's permission, " Thou mayst freely 
eat," she would not have been so ready 
to disregard His prohibition. If we "eat 
in plenty" of " angels' food," of course we 



53 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

shall not care about the " onions and 
the garlick." Just fancy wanting them! 
When we are " satisfied," of course, there 
is no craving. g* 

" Hitherto," " henceforth." The Chris- 
tian's whole course in two words. 1 b. 



Never shrink from the probings of our 
beloved Physician. Dearer and dearer will 
the hand become as we yield to it. f. 



It does seem to me that "free grace" 
does not mean there is nothing on our 
side. We may phrase it " coming," " ac- 
cepting," "believing," "touching the 
hem"; but there is something which 
these words represent, which is necessary 
to salvation; and then comes the ques- 
tion, have /this condition ? Yet as soon 
as /in any form comes in, there is shadow 
upon the light. Still, this shadow need 
not fall when the eye is fixed upon Christ 

1 "Hitherto and Henceforth," Poems, p. 426. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 59 

as the Substitute, the Lamb slain; then 
all is clear. k. 



Trust, evidenced by obedience, is the 
stepping-stone to delight in the Lord, 
and the only one. Obedience is the re- 
sult of trust, and the condition of delight. 

/• 

My ill health this summer has been 
very trying to me. I am held back from 
much I wanted to do in every way, and 
have had to lay poetizing aside. And yet 
such open doors seemed set before me ! 

. . . Elizabeth C told the S 's of 

my composing, and they wanted me to go 
to Ferdinand Hiller, whom they consider 
the greatest living composer and author- 
ity, and show him my songs He 

is a small elderly man, quiet in manner, 
of handsome and peculiar Jewish physiog- 
nomy and terribly clever looking 

eyes; I think one would single him out as 

a genius among any number He 

took my book of songs and sat down to 



60 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

read it through, giving me a volume of 
poetry to amuse myself with meanwhile. 
You may imagine I didn't read much ! . . 

When he had finished, he delivered his 
verdict, the worst part first. He said my 
melodies bore the stamp of talent, not of 

genius: "I find them very pleasing 

and many really very good, but they are 
thoroughly English in character and type; 
I do not consider that English melodies 
rank highest. But, as for your harmonies, 
I must say I am astonished. It is some- 
thing singular to find such grasp of the 
subject, such power of harmonization, ex- 
cept where there has been long and thor- 
ough study and instruction; here I can 
give almost unlimited praise." I told him 
my question was not, had I talent enough 
to make music a mere pleasure to myself 

and my friends ? but was there 

promise enough to make it an advisable 
investment of my life, in case I wished to 
do so ? He said: " Sincerely and unhesi- 
tatingly I can say that you have" 

I did not expect all this; and though I 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 61 

shall not do anything at present, it is 
pleasant to know I have a talent, which 
I may some day develop to some purpose. 
b. 

Is not the tendency of the human voice 
to fall from the true pitch, one of the re- 
sults of " the Fall " ? Adam and Eve must 
have sung in tune, like the birds. How 
wonderful it is, that the birds not only 
sing their own songs in tune, but all the 
songs always seem in tune with each 
other, except the cuckoo, when passing 
from his major third in May to his minor 
third (or even second) in June ! k. 



I only send you two words; but they 
are, and will be seen to be, the true 
"theme" or " subject," speaking musi- 
cally, carried through all the majors and 
minors of life: "MARVELLOUS LOVING- 
KINDNESS." b. 



If we delight truly in the Lord, and 
thereby have our desires so harmonized 



62 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

with His will that they float out on the 
same great tide of perfect music, there 
will be no damper upon their vibrations, 
but they will be fulfilled for us because 
His will is fulfilled. g. 



If we think it humble to profess, or are 
humble enough really to believe, that we 
have but the " one talent," that is the 
more reason why we should eagerly make 
the very most of it for our Lord; for if it is 
only one, it is not our own, but our " Lord's 
money." g. 

I know cases in which the effect of real 
consecration on mere mental develop- 
ment has been obvious and surprising to 
all around. Yet it is only a confirma- 
tion of what I believe to be a great prin- 
ciple, viz., that the Lord makes the most 
of zvhatever is unreservedly surrendered to 
Him. There will always be plenty of 
waste in what we try to cut out for our- 
selves. But He wastes no material ! e. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 63 

I send you this text, Matthew xxv. 40, 
and I want you to let it brighten all your 
work; but one can never come to the end 
of the graciousness of it. b. 



There is no bondage in consecration. 
The two things are opposites, and can- 
not co-exist, much less mingle. c. 



Among the best gifts of God to me, I 
count a certain stormy petrelism of na- 
ture, which seems to enable me to skim 
any waves when I am not actually under 
them. I have an elasticity which often 
makes me wonder at myself, a power of 
throwing myself into any present interest 
or enjoyment, though the sorrow is only 
suspended, not removed. b. 



Bringing "the first of the first-fruits 
into the house of the Lord thy God," was 
like "saying grace" for all the plenty He 
was going to bestow on the faithful 
Israelite c. 



64 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

You cannot follow one thing without 

coming away from something else 

If you are moving onward, some things 
must be left behind. What are "the 
things which are behind " in your life ? e. 



Sunday is over. "Sent empty away." 
Just empty, no other word seems to ex- 
press it; not full of anything. I would 
rather even have been full of distress 
than thus empty. Not one sweet verse 
or comforting thought seemed given me. 
All the beautiful service seemed to pass 
through the ear and never reach my heart. 
Oh, if He would only show me " wherefore 
He contendeth with me." b. 



"Under His wings shalt thou trust!" 
Not, shalt thou SEE ! i. 



Just one of the dear old rock-texts, 
which are always something to stand 
upon, .... "He hath said, I will never 
leave thee nor forsake thee." For this em- 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 65 

braces all our years; if true at all, it has 
been so all along, even when we felt far 
off. He was near when we felt alone; He 
was surely, though hidden, beside us. b. 



If we have an entire and present belief 
that " all things work together for good," 
or that He leads us "forth by the right 
way," should we feel worried when some 
one thing seems to work wrong, and some 
one yard of the way is not what we think 
straightest ? d. 



Trusting does not supersede watching; 
it does but complete and effectuate it. 
Unwatchful trust is a delusion, and un- 
trustful watching is in vain. c. 



My first note in my new room in our 
new home 1 must be to you. It is solemn 
to think of what I may go through in this 
room : probably many happy hours, cer- 
tainly many sorrowful ones I 

1 Pyrmont Villa, Leamington, 1867. 



66 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

have just been praying words from my 
own mamma's lips, when I was a little 
girl, " Prepare me for all that Thou art 

preparing for me." 

The only drawback is that, being at the 
top of the house, it will not be available 
for classes. I do wish all good carpets 
and furniture were at the bottom of the 
sea ! They are among the devices to hin- 
der usefulness. b. 



Not as a mere echo from the morning- 
gilded shore of Tiberias, but as an ever 
new, ever sounding note of divinest power, 
come the familiar words to each of us, 
" Lovest thou Me ? " He says it who has 
loved us with an everlasting love. He 
says it who has died for us. He says it 
who has washed us from our sins in His 
own blood. He says it who has waited 
for our love, waited patiently all through 
our coldness. c. 



We talk about the telescope of faith, 
but I think we want even more the micro- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 67 

scope of watchful and grateful love. Ap- 
ply this to the little bits of our daily lives, 
in the light of the Spirit, and how won- 
derfully they come out ! k. 



What is the eloquence of " those wounds 
in Thine hands " ? Are they not always 
saying, "I pray you" ' ? e. 



Love understands love; it needs no 
talk. Sunlight needs no paraphernalia of 
pipes, and wicks, and burners; it just 
shines out, direct and immediate. And 
the dewdrop flashes it back in the same 
way. The sparkle may be tiny, but it is 
true and immediate; it needs no vehicle. 

£-- 

I am stopped in every attempt at con- 
secutive work. It has for years been 
special discipline to me, because I am 
naturally fond of going through with a 
thing. b. 



68 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

I am beginning to taste a little bit of 
the real blessedness of waiting. One does 
not wait alone, for He waits too. Our 
waiting times are His also. I have been 
so delighted with the two " waits" in 
Isaiah xxx. 18; surely it implies a fellow- 
ship of waiting. b. 



I am glad He did not set me free to 
write. I distinctly believe it to be His 
holding me back from teaching before I 
am taught ! b. 

" Whatsoever He saith unto you, do 
it." Do not just think about doing it, or 
talk about doing, but do it ! 

"Do it!" Do the exact thing He 
would have you do, not something a little 
bit different, or something which you 
think will be very nearly the same, but 
do"zV." I 



The "whats ever" is not necessarily 
active work. It may be waiting (whether 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 69 

half an hour or half a lifetime), learning, 
suffering, sitting still. d. 



" He will be very gracious unto thee 
at the voice of thy cry." .... And the 
"cry" is not long, connected, thoughtful 
prayers; a cry is just an unworded dart 
upwards of the heart, and at that " voice" 
He will be very gracious. What a smile 
there is in these words ! b. 



One day among the mountains is worth 
many of other beautiful scenery; I say 
among advisedly, for a far off view is not 
the same thing; it is the difference be- 
tween anticipation and possession, future 
and present. However beautiful a dis- 
tant view may be, one wants to be nearer, 
to be there. It would be well if all in- 
stinct of anticipation were as true and as 
truly to be satisfied as this ! a. 



The sun had risen above the thick mist, 
and away in the south-east were the weird 



7.o GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

giant outlines of the Bernese Oberland 
mountains bending towards the sun, as 
if they had been our mighty guardian 
spirits all night, and were resigning their 
charge ere they flew away into farther 
light. Anything less ethereal and less 
holy they could scarcely be; the very mist 
was a folding of wings about their feet, and 
a veiling of what might be angel brows, 

grand and serene The vision did 

not last long; it seemed to melt into light 
rather than into mist. a. 



Here we are perched on a terrace look- 
ing down into the valley, with the Jung- 
frau looking down upon us between two 
steep wooded hills, shining out of grey 
clouds every now and then like a sudden 
smile, with that wonderful intensity of 
whiteness which to me gives a totally 
new force to " whiter than snow." And I 
see too how perfectly the evangelists com- 
plete each other's description of our Lord's 
transfiguration raiment (St. Matthew says 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 7 1 

it was " white as the light," St. Mark "ex- 
ceeding white as snow"), for this Alpine 
snow is light materialized and snow ethe- 
realized, it is a combination of the impres- 
sions of each. 

I came across " solidified hydrogen " 
the other day, which rather astonished 
me; but now I seem to have seen solid- 
ified light. a. 

P.S. — Isaiah xlviii. 17: do suck all the 
honey out of this full and sweet text. b. 



It is the privilege not of a favored few, 
but of " all saints," to comprehend some- 
thing of what is incomprehensible. f. 



We little realize how unscriptural we 
are when we meet His good gift of joy to 
ourselves or to others with a doubtful, 
ind therefore faithless, "If it last!" f. 



For a perfect eye-delight of blue, com- 
mend me to the Alpine forget-me-not. 



72 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

I never saw anything prettier in shape 
and color, — like turquoises, only alive and 
positively smiling, and they grow as but- 
tercups do with us, by millions. a. 



It was the "son of thunder" who was 
also the apostle of love. /. 



Over even the freshest and purest 
earthly fountains the Hand that never 
makes a mistake has written, "He that 
drinketh of this water shall thirst again." 
Look into your own heart and you will 
find a copy of that inscription already 
traced, " Shall thirst again!' c. 



Why tarry in the "far country" with 
the husks and the heart-loneliness ? e. 



Jesus says, "Come now!" not, "Come 
when everything else has turned bitter." b. 



" But what is ' coming ' ? " 

One's very familiarity with the terms 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 73 

used to express spiritual things, seems to 
have a tendency to make one feel mysti- 
fied about them. And their very sim- 
plicity makes one suspicious, as it were, 
that there must be some mysterious and 
mystical meaning behind them, because 
they sound too easy and plain to have such 
great import. "Come" means "come," 
— just that ! and not some occult process 
of mental effort. 

It is positively too simple to be made 
plainer by any amount of explanation, e. 



I must tell you about the east window 
in Mr. Bickersteth's church at Hampstead. 
Nothing in the window line ever made 
such an impression upon me. It is all 
filled in with simple arabesque and diaper 
work, merely quiet harmonious color, 
nothing to arrest the eye, except the 
centre light and in that is a white scroll 
on a blue ground, with just the words 
in crimson and gold letters, "Till He 
come." It sent quite a thrill through me. 



74 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

It is so exactly what one would like tc 
look up to from the holy table. b. 



It is only with God-given treasure that 
we can enrich others. When we want to 
give a word to another, it generally seems 
to come with more power if, instead of 
casting about for what we think likely to 
suit them, we simply hand over to them 
any treasure word which He has freshly 
given to ourselves. f 



More and more, do I feel what valuable 
capital Time is, capital which must not 
be put out at merely any interest, but as 
far as possible at the best and highest. 6. 

He who made every power can use 
every power— memory, judgment, imag- 
ination, quickness of apprehension or in- 
sight; specialties of musical, poetical, or- 
atorical, or artistic faculty; special tastes 
for reasoning, philosophy, history, natural 
science, or natural history,— all these mav 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 75 

be dedicated to Him, sanctified by Him, 
and used by Him. Whatever He has 
given, He will use, if we will let Him. c. 



Why should I not take, for granted all 
I find in the Bible ? why should I hesitate 
and tremble over it, as I have been doing 
for years ? I have been appropriating all 
the promises with a calm sort of twilight 
happiness, waiting for a clearer light to 
show me their full beauty and value, b. 



I have the same sins and temptations 
as before, and I do not strive against 
them more than before, and it is often 
just as hard work. But, whereas I could 
not see why I should be saved, I now 
cannot see why I should not be saved if 
Christ died for all. On that word I take 
my stand and rest there. b. 



We lean upon the word of the King 
for everlasting life, why not for daily life 
also ? . j 



7 6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

A little girl was away from home on 
a week's visit. The first night, when she 
was tucked up in bed, and just ready for 
a good-night kiss, I said, "Now, shall I 
give you a little pillow ? " 

Ethel lifted her head to see what was 
under it, and said, " I have got one, 
Auntie!" 

" It was another sort of pillow that I 
meant to give you; I wonder if you will 
like it ! " " 

Then I told her that, just as we wanted 
a nice soft pillow to lay our heads down 
upon at night, our hearts wanted a pillow 
too, something to rest upon, some true, 
sweet word that we might go to sleep 
upon happily and peacefully. And that 
it was a good plan always to take a little 
text for our pillow every night 

For even little hearts are sometimes 
very weary, and want something to rest 
upon; and a happy little heart, happy in 
the love of Jesus, will always be glad to 
have one of His own sweet words to go 
to sleep upon. k. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 77 

But a pillow is of no use if you 

only look at it; that does not rest you, 
You must lay your head down upon it, 
and then you rest. So, do not only think/ 
" Yes, that is a very nice text"; but be- 
lieve it, and lay your heart down restfully 

upon it till " He giveth His beloved 

sleep." h. 

You remember that delightful 

verse in 2 Chronicles xxxii. 8, "the peo- 
ple rested themselves upon the words of 
the King"; now I have found "the word 
of my Lord the King shall now be for 
rest" (margin 2 Samuel xiv. 17): is it not 
lovely ? it will do for one of my night 
pillows; it's a down pillow, and no rucks 
in it ! k. 

Do not let us shrink from some unex- 
pected flash into a dark corner; do not 
let us wince at the sudden touching of a 
hidden plague-spot. The Lord always 
does His own work thoroughly if we will 
only let Him do it. c. 



78 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

What could we do without Him in this 
lonely world of shadows ? And He will 
not let us do without Him ! And may 
we not reverently and wonderingly say ; 
"Neither can He do without us!" His 
people are so entwined around His heart 
that it must be so. b. 



And just as we returned, and the valley 
was darkening, lo " the afterglow," which 
I so much wished to see. Rosy gold, or 
golden rosiness, comes as near as I can 
give it; but words of any sort are not 
much use. One more effect was still in 
reserve: when we came up to our room, 
the crescent moon was shedding a pale 
holy glimmer over the snow, and the sky 
behind it was no invisible purple or neu- 
tral tint, but a most ethereal blue, which 
I never saw at night before and do not 
understand. a. 

The falls [of the Rhine] are a mass oJ 
sparkling white, broken by two or three 
tree-covered rocks; about four we set out 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 79 

to see them, by winding, shady paths to 
the railway bridge above the falls, which 
has a footway. It was fascinating to look 
down at the wild rapids, sheets of glass- 
like transparency flowing swiftly over rock 
tables, then a sudden precipice below, 
water which might go down to any depth, 
only that you are not looking down into 
darkness, but into emerald and snow, 
mingled and transfused marvellously, and 
full of motion and power and almost life. 

We descended from point to point, get- 
ting new impressions of what a waterfall 
can be, at each. At one we had a rain- 
bow in the highest spray, arching the 
whole fall; at another a new rainbow hung 
over the lower part, seeming to rest upon 
the utter restlessness behind it. 

The rocks beneath are not a smooth 
ledge, but broken and varied, and thus 
the water is thrown into a chaos of mag- 
nificent curves and leaps infinitely more 
beautiful than any single chute could be, 
water against water, foam against foam. 
You look up and see masses, mountains 



So GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

of white, bright water hurled everlastingly 
and irresistibly down, down, down, with 
a sort of exuberance of the joy of utter 
strength. You look across and see shat- 
tered diamonds by millions, leaping and 
glittering in the sunshine. You look down, 
and it is a tremendous wrestling and sink- 
ing and overcoming of flood upon flood, 
all the more weirdly grand that it is half 
hidden in the clouds of spray. Only one 
cannot look long, it is so dazzling, so in- 
tensely white, every drop so full of light, 
that the eye soon wearies and memory 
has to begin her work. Oh, if one were 
only all spirit ! a. 



It is a great mercy the sunshine of hea- 
ven is veiled from our sight, or we should 
be just unfit for earthly duties. I think 
there is a gravitation of the soul to life, as 
there is of bodies to the earth. b. 



I must pass on to you what I have been 
rejoicing in all this week, Exodus xxi. 5, 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 8 1 

■■ I love my Master, I will not go free " ; 
and then connect the end of verse 6 
with Revelation xxii. 3, " shall serve 
Him " for ever. I can't imagine why I 
never exulted in that declaration before, 
" I love my Master ! " * b. 



Some of us know what it is to be 
miserably afraid of making mistakes in 
our work. How graciously He meets this 
with " I will direct their work in truth. " 

k. 



Starry hosts of God's realized prom- 
ises shine out in the great firmament of 
the Word. Some are fast grouping them- 
selves into constellations of "the glory 
that excelleth.' , Here and there, where 
I saw only a cloud, I find now a grand, 
sublime nebula only waiting for higher 
faith-power to be resolved into, not stars 
merely, but suns. And the Lord has 
brought me forth, like Abraham of old, 

1 "My Master," Poems, p. 273. 



82 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

and said, " look now toward heaven, and 
tell the stars!" b. 



That we may have to keep His com- 
mandments in the very teeth of trial, loss, 
opposition, or distress does not touch the 
matter; for, nevertheless, not afterward, 
but in the keeping of His words, He takes 
care to keep His word that there shall be 
great reward. g. 

At every turn, as we rose higher and 
higher directly opposite the Jungfrau, 
she seemed to grow grander and grander, 
and we began to realize her stature; tre- 
mendous precipices rise like Titan walls 
out of the valley, then rock and snow 
struggle for predominance, then snow 
prevails, and the Silberhorn rises in one 
smooth curved cone of pure unbroken 
white, and the real summit towers still 
higher behind, dazzling even against the 
dazzling sky. " It will be finer yet," said 
our guide. " How can that be ?" " You 
will see!" It was true; when we finally 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. &3 

came out of the forest the Jungfrau was 
still the centre, but only the centre point 
of the grandest of even Alpine amphi- 
theatres. On her right the white Monk 
and the Eiger with its perpendicular side 
in full view, on the left the Rothhorn, 
Breithorn, and Sparrenhorn, in stately 
range; glaciers, avalanche tracks, snow- 
fields, snow-walls, and every thing Alpine 
that ever one heard of, all in one view. 
And all the while " the grass of the 
field " was as lovely as ever at our feet, 
sheets of flowers around us, all delicate 
and tiny and exquisite, just the other pole 
of the world of the Beautiful. a. 



The Swiss have natural temples, and 
have troubled themselves little about 
architectural beauty in contrast with the 
Belgians, who have cathedrals instead of 
mountains. a. 



Before you start, the guide has disposed 
of all those heavier matters which you 



84 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

could not possibly carry for yourself. 
Very often they are taken completely 
out of your sight. Encumbered with these, 
you could not even set out on your jour- 
ney, much less progress quickly and 
pleasantly. 

But there are always plenty of little 
affairs which seem mere nothings at first, 
but which are soon found to be real bur- 
dens. A beginner says she " would rather 
carry her little knapsack, it is really no 
weight at all ! " and thinks a parcel or two 
in her pocket " can't make any difference," 
and prefers wearing her waterproof, be- 
cause '* it isn't at all heavy." But she has 
not gone far before she is very glad, if a 
sensible girl, to give up her knapsack, tiny 
though it be; and then she finds that a 
waterproof won't do for climbing, and she 
hands that over; and presently she even 
empties her pocket, and the guide trudges 
away with it all. Then she is surprised to 
find what a difference it does make, and 
understands why her friend, who knew the 
guide's ways better and gave up every sin- 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 85 

gle thing to him at first, is getting along so 
cool and fresh and elastically. But mark 
that the weight of a burden is seldom real- 
ized till we really are going uphill and in 
a fair way to make progress. Indeed, this 
very sensitiveness to weight is a quick test 
of increased gradient. We think nothing 
about it as long as we are walking on a 
level or slightly downhill; but as soon as 
we begin the real ascent the pull of the 
little burdens is felt at once, and the as- 
sistance, which before we did not crave, 
becomes very welcome. It is then that 
we feel we must " lay aside every weight." 

a. 



You know some things do seem to hin- 
der you; will you keep them or lay them 
aside ? Will you only lay aside something 
that every one can see is hindering you, 
so that you will get a little credit for put- 
ting it down, and keep something that 
your own little conscience knows is a real 
hindrance, though no one else knows any 
thing at all about it ? i. 



86 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Different persons have different weights; 
we must find out what ours are, and give 
them up. *• 

Literal " singing for Jesus" is to me, 
somehow, the most personal and direct 
commission I hold from my beloved Mas- 
ter; and my opportunities for it are often 
most curious, and have been greatly bless- 
ed; every line in my little poem " Singing 
for Jesus" 1 is from personal experience. 

b. 



Let us sing words which we feel and 
love, sacrificing everything to clearness 
of enunciation, and looking up to meet 
His smile all the while we are singing; 
our songs will reach more hearts than 
those of finer voices and more brilliant 
execution, unaccompanied by His power. 
A sacred song thus sung often gives a 
higher tone to the evening, and affords, 
both to singer and listeners, some oppor- 
tunity of speaking a word for Jesus. b. 

1 Poems, p. 59. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 87 

Singing an out-and-out sacred song often 
clears one's path at a stroke as to many 
other things. c. 



I would advise any one thoroughly to 
master one song, make it part of yourself, 
throw your whole self into it, then pray it 
may be His message, and it will be all 
right. For myself, I have more confidence 
in singing Scripture words than any other, 
because they are His. And, as I sing I 
am praying, too, that it may soothe or 
reach some one, though I may never 
know whom. k. 



I was at a large, regular London party 
lately, and I was so happy. He seemed 
to give me " the secret of His presence," 
and of course I sang "for Jesus," and did 
not I have dead silence? 1 b. 



Why should we use His own inspired 
words, with faith in their power, whei; 

1 "A Silence and a Song," Poems , p. 60. 



88 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

speaking or writing, and content ourselves 
with human words put into rhyme (and 
sometimes very feeble rhyme) for our 

singing ? c. 

His word cannot fail; it " shall not re- 
turn void;" it "shall prosper!" There- 
fore, when our " words fall to the ground," 
it only proves that they were not His 
words. d. 



But we must not run away with the idea 
that singing sacred songs and singing for 
Jesus are convertible terms. I know by 
sorrowful personal experience that it is 
very possible to sing a sacred song and 
not sing it for Jesus. It is easier to have 
one's portfolio all right than one's heart, 
and the repertory is more easily arranged 
than the motives. c. 



And that same tender and " glorious 
Voice" has literallly sung and will sing 
" for thee." I think He consecrated song 
for us, and made it a sweet and sacred 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 89 

thing for ever, when He, Himself, "sang 
a hymn," the very last thing before He 
went forth to consecrate suffering for us. 
That was not His last song. " The Lord 

thy God will joy over thee with 

singing." c. 

He is reigning now, and there are nc 
neutrals in His kingdom. e. 



"'In order' (1 Cor. xiv. 40) is some- 
thing more than being tidy ! something 
analogous to ' keeping rank.' " b. 



" Come thou into the Ark ! " It is one 
of the devices of the destroyer to delude 
you into fancying that no very decided 
step is necessary. He is very fond of the 
word " gradually." You are to become 
more earnest — gradually. You are to find 
salvation — gradually. You are to turn 
your mind to God — gradually. Did you 
ever think that God never once uses this 
vvord or anything like it ? Neither the 



90 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

word nor the sense of it occurs in any way 
in the whole Bible with reference to salva- 
tion, e. 



" Whatsoever things are of good report; 

think on these things. " Instead of 

that, we " think" about the bad reports 
that we may have heard; we develope 
the unkind hint into suspicion, and per- 
haps into accusation, by thinking about it, 
instead of thinking on and thinking out 
the probable " other side" of the case. g. 



We think of trials as intended to do us 
good in the long-run, and in a general 
sort of way; but the Lord says of each 
one, u // yieldeth." /. 



To me the overture to the Lobgesang 
is a vision of Christian life, with its own 
peculiar struggles and sorrows as well as 
joys. It is the sixth, seventh, and eighth 
chapters of the Epistle to the Romans in 
essence. The mingling of twilight yearn - 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 9 1 

ings, ever pressing onward, with calm and 
trustful praise, ever pressing upward, is an 
almost unbearably true echo of the heart, 
especially in the \ Allegretto agitato; 
then the Andante religioso is the still, 
mellow glow of " light at eventide," to 
which one looks forward; then I go just 
one step farther, and find a fore-echo of 
the eternal song in the burst of vocal praise 
after the long tension of the voiceless 
overture. k. 



Courmayeur lies on a gentle slope some 
little height above the noisy, foaming 
Dora, and so one has not the perpetual 
roar which I always think the greatest 
drawback to Swiss enjoyment. If the 
rivers would but go to sleep at night, 
what a relief it would be ! a. 



M. and I both heard the curious latent 
music of the water when our ear was 
pressed on the pillow, — " Just like a 
piano," she said, and truly ! It really 



92 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

was like a distant piano playing a mo- 
notonous yet sweet melody, always near- 
ly, but never quite, the same key of G; 
and harmony merely tonic and dominant 
in turn, a move of the head occasionally 
producing the subdominant ! a. 



What loving care is His ! I never knew 
all the sweetness of it till lately. It was 
" sipping " where now it is drinking! I 
am still in a golden haze of wonder at 
finding what the Lord is able to do for 
those who simply but really trust Him ! 
b. 

Talking of sips, what unexpected deli- 
cious little sips one gets, sometimes, when 
one is really too tired for a whole draught 
from His word ! Yesterday I was so tired, 
just on the edge of fainting more than 
once from mere weakness. I turned over 
the leaves for a sip, and came upon " the 
word of my Lord the King shall now be 
for rest" (margin). I need not tell you 
how it rested me ! b. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 93 

There is no other means of rest for all 
the way but the very same. The mo- 
ment we simply believe any word of the j 
King, we find that it is truly "for rest," 
about the point to which it refers. And 
if we would but go on taking the King's 
word about every single thing, we should 
always find it, then and there, "for rest." 
Every flutter of unrest may, if we look 
honestly into it, be traced to not entirely 
and absolutely taking the King's word. 
His words are enough for rest at all times, 
and in all circumstances; therefore we are 
sinning the great sin of unbelief whenever 
we allow ourselves in any phase of unrest. 
It is not infirmity, but sin, to neglect to 
make use of the promises which He meant 
for our strong consolation and continual 
help. d. 

What has a consecrated life to do with 
being "afraid"? Some of us could tell 
of such sweet and singular lessons of trust 
in this matter, that they are written in gold- 
en letters of love on our memories. c. 



94 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Christ must satisfy; then, it we are not 
satisfied, it must be because we are not 
feeding on Him wholly and only. The 
fault is not in the provision which is 
made, — " For all that came unto King 
Solomon's table, they lacked nothing." 

Organ Music at Lucerne. — The thun- 
derstorm was almost real, first the far-off 
growl among the mountains, then the 
gradual approach, the moaning gusts of 
wind, the nearer rumble, the distant echo, 
then the sudden awful crash overhead, and 
the burst of rain, suddenly ceasing again; 
then, as the peals receded, a most perfect 
quartette was heard singing " Hanover," 
beautifully harmonized and in perfect 
chorale time, one could hardly divest 
one's self of the idea that it was really a 
vocal quartette, only just too far off to 
catch the words, which mtist be Psalm 
civ., " My soul, praise the Lord." As one 
listened the voices came a little nearer, 
the thunder died away into the faintest 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 95 

peals, seeming to come from behind the 
mountains, the wail of the wind ceased 
altogether, the voices died into a sweet 
lovely close, and then a most exquisite 
flute stop predominated in a concluding 
symphony of enchanting sweetness. a. 



I have an idea that metre answers to 
key in music, and that one may introduce 
modulation of metre exactly as one intro- 
duces modulation of key, and with similar 
mental effect. b. 



But the singing ! When after a short 
prelude the first chorale burst out, it went 
through me, . . . dignified, solemn, grand, 
massive, the very antipodes of some of 
the flimsy rattling church music at home. 
It was just the difference between a cheap 
ball dress and coronation robes, or better, 
a musical embodiment of the world-up- 
heaving Reformation as compared with 
the effervescence of a revival in its least 
hopeful form. a. 



96 golden thoughts. 

We ventured down a horrible and won - 
derful place, the " Finsteraar Schlucht,*' 
or " Black Gorge of the Aar," which 
strangely enough, none of our guidebooks 
mention, though we thought it worth go- 
ing miles to see. It is a sharp descent, 
mostly by little wooden steps, into what 
at first looks like a lofty cavern, very nar- 
row, the rock on each side hollowed out 
in most curious round or oval sweeps, 
with sharp jagged edges all bending over, 
and quite or nearly meeting overhead. It 
is full of the sound of rushing water, but 
we saw none till near the bottom, and 
then the witch-hole opens out upon the 
Aar, tearing along apparently from no- 
where to nowhere, shut in by two awful 
walls of rock five hundred feet high, with 
just room enough below for the narrow 
strong river, and a beach like the sea 
three or four yards wide on one side, and 
the rocks overhanging so much that there 
is the merest little slit of sky. Said M., 
u We have got into Dante ! " a 



FRANCES RIDLEY HA V ERG A L. 97 

The bits of wayside work are very 
sweet. Perhaps the odd bits, when all is 
done, will really come to more than the 
seemingly greater pieces! the chance con- 
versations with rich or poor, the seed 
sown in odd five minutes, even the tables- 
d'-hote for me, and the rides and friends' 
tables for you. It is nice to know that the 
King's servants are always really on duty, 
even while some can only stand and wait. 

b. 

Once the question was asked, "Where- 
fore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that 
thou hast no tidings ready ? " So if we 
want to have these beautiful feet, we must 
have the tidings ready which they are to 
bear. c. 

It is His will that is the happiest work 
above, and the very happiest thing to do 
here below. z. 



When we are aiming at generalities we 
do not hit the practicalities. We forget 



98 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

that faithfulness to principle is only proved 
by faithfulness in detail. Has not this 
vagueness had something to do with the 
constant ineffectiveness of our feeble de- 
sire that our time should be devoted to 
God ? c. 

How I should like to teach you har- 
mony ! I do believe I could make it lu- 
cid; you can't think what exquisite sym- 
metry there is in chords and intervals, so 
that I always feel, as well as believe, that 
man by no means invented harmony, but 
only found out God's beautiful arrange- 
ments in it. b. 

We were now about eight thousand six 
hundred feet high, and I at least was pro- 
portionately happy. It was marvellous 
how far up the lovely rhododendrons grow, 
but the forget-me-nots were almost as dar- 
ing, and the Alpine ranunculus grew high- 
er still, the special glacier flower, said Jo- 
seph Devouassoud. It was a wild scene, 
the grim Rochers Rouges and Aiguille du 



FRANCES RIDLEY HA VERGAL. 99 

Midi just above, the whole Dome du Goute 
shining close beyond the great glacier, an 
awful slope of snow and stones below us, 
and ever so deep down the Chamouni val- 
ley, which we must have seen as the birds 

see it If there were any birds to 

see it ! But there is a curious paucity of 
them in Switzerland. We hardly ever saw 
or heard a bird of any kind. If we did, it 
was quite a thing to be remarked upon to 
each other. Nature has devoted herself 
to the inanimate instead of the animate; 
one never sees a wild living thing except 
insects, — which quite make up as regards 
numbers and beauty; — no game, no rab- 
bits, nothing! a. 

It is so nice to meet those with whom 
one is in full sympathy. One meets so 
many who only go such a little way; I 
mean really Christians, yet taking such 
faint interest in Christ's cause and king- 
dom, all alive as to art, or music, or gen- 
eral on-goings, yet not seeming to feel the 
music of His name. b. 



IO o GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

What proportion of your moments do 
you think enough for Jesus ? How many 
for the spirit of praise, and how many 
for the spirit of heaviness ? Be explicit 
about it, and come to an understanding. 
If He is not to have all, then how much ? 
Calculate, balance, and apportion. You 
will not be able to do this in heaven — you 
know it will be all praise there; but you 
are free to halve your service of praise 
here, or to make the proportion what you 
will. Yet,— c. 

If we had stood at the foot of the Cross, 
and watched the tremendous payment of 
our redemption with the precious blood of 
Christ, — if we had seen that awful price 
told out drop by drop, from His own dear 
patient brow and torn hands and feet, till 
it was ALL paid, and the central word of 
eternity was uttered, "It is finished!" 
should we not have been ready to say, 
" Not a mite will I withhold ! " c. 



The dawn was perfection and cloudless 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. io> 

except some fairy flakes of pink and gold, 
and one little pale bell of cloud halfway 
up the monarch. But, when the rose- 
fire touched Mont Blanc itself, and spread 
down to meet the little cloud, the glory 
of it was entirely indescribable. E. said, 
"The most heavenly thing upon earth," 
and there it must rest, for one can't say 
more. I always thought people colored 
these sunrises a little, but that is simply 
impossible; even Ruskin will not over- 
paint them. " Fade into the light of com- 
mon day" has great significance; for though 
the splendor lasted longer than usual this 
morning, it is only a matter of fifteen min- 
utes at most. a. 



It is not only the solid life-need of bread 
that is provided at the feast which the 
Lord has made for us, but Wine, the sym- 
bol of joy, "that maketh glad the heart 
of man." e. 



" The burden of them is intolerable/' 
It is not the sense, but the burden itself 



102 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

which cannot be borne; no one could beat 
his own iniquities without being sunk 
lower and lower, and at last to hell by it. 
It is only not felt when the very elasticity 
of sin within us keeps us from feeling the 
weight of the sin upon us; as the very air 
in our bodies prevents our feeling the 
otherwise crushing weight of the atmos- 
phere with its tons upon every inch. g. 



Prayer must be based upon promise, 
but, thank God, His promises are always 
broader than our prayers. No fear of 
building inverted pyramids here, for Jesus 
Christ is the foundation. c. 



How marvellously grand the promises 
are when taken and understood as they 
are given ! Few Christians half credit 
them! They take off a great discount! 
They only ask for a balance of bless- 
ing! b. 



Luther said: "I feel as if Jesus Christ 
died yesterday." So fresh, so vivid, be 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 103 

our love and thankfulness! But may we 
add: "And as if He were coming to- 
day!" Then our lives would indeed be 
rich in remembrance and radiant in antici- 
pation. g m 

I can't make you quite understand me! 
You say " F. R. H. could do ' Satisfied' 
grandly"! No, she couldn't! Not unless 
He gave it me line by line! That is how 
verses come. The Master has not put a 
chest of poetic gold into my possession 
and said, " Now use it as you like! " But 
He keeps the gold, and gives it me piece 
by piece, just when He will and as much 
as He will, and no more. Some day 
perhaps He will send me a bright line of 
verse on "Satisfied" ringing through my 
mind, and then I shall look up and thank 
Him, and say, "Now, dear Master, give 
me another to rhyme with it, and then 
another"; and then perhaps He will send 
it all in one flow of musical thoughts, but 
more likely one at a time, that I may be 
kept asking Him for every line. There/ 



104 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

that is the process, and you see there is 
no "I can do it" at all. b. 



In this sweet access and supply, you 
and I have a " better thing" than the 
grandest natural gifts; and as for being 
slow or quick in production, it may be 
some tiny sentence written in five seconds, 
and never thought of before, which may do 
the widest and truest work for Jesus, b. 



He shall be called Jehovan. But this 
alone would be too great, too far off for 
us; it might find echoes among the harp- 
ings of sinless angels, but not among the 
sighings of sinful souls. And so the name 
was completed for us, by the very word 
that expresses our truest, deepest, widest, 
most perpetual need, and the Holy Ghost 
revealed the Son of God to us as " Jeho- 
vah our Righteousness." d. 



When we come to really difficult places, 
or glaciers with hidden crevasses, we find 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 105 

the use of the coil of rope. This is fast- 
ened first round the guide himself, and 
then round the rest of the party, allow- 
ing a length of eight or ten feet between 
each. Once I questioned the strength of 
the rope, upon which the guide untwisted 
it a little, and showed me a scarlet thread 
hidden among the strands. He told me 
that this was the mark that it was a real 
Alpine Club rope, manufactured expressly 
for the purpose, and to be depended upon 
in a matter of life and death. It is re- 
markable that this typical " line of scarlet 
thread " should have been selected as the 
guarantee of safety. a. 



Mountains, real ones, are more to me 
than any other created thing ; the gentle 
loveliness of lake scenery or forest, or 
pastoral picturesqueness, is delightful; but 
nothing sends the thrill all through one's 
very soul that these mountains do. It is 
just the difference between the Harmoni- 
ous Blacksmith on a piano, and the Halle- 
lujah Chorus from a grand orchestra, a. 



1 06 GOLDEN THO UGHTS. 

Why should we pare down the com- 
mands and promises of God to the level 
of what we have hitherto experienced of 
what God is "able to do," or even of what 
we have thought He might be able to 
do for us ? Why not receive God's prom- 
ises, nothing doubting, just as they stand \ 
" Take the shield of faith, whereby ye shall 
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked." b. 



Trust necessarily implies expectation 
that what we have entrusted will be 
kept. If you have not expected Him 
to keep, you have not trusted. c. 



I can never set myself to write verse. 
I believe my King suggests a thought and 
whispers me a musical line or two, and 
then I look up and thank Him delightedly, 
and go on with it. That is how the hymns 
and poems come. Just now there is si- 
lence. I have not had the least stir of 
music in my mind since I wrote that tiny 
consecration hymn. b. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 107 

I suppose it was the "silver and gold*'' 
line that was objected to; 1 and I do think 
that couplet, 

" Take my silver and my gold, 
Not a mite would I withhold,' 

is peculiarly liable to be objected to by 
those who do not really understand the 
spirit of it, don't you ? So I am not a bit 
surprised ! Yes, "not a mite would I with- 
hold"; but that does not mean that, be- 
cause we have ten shillings in our purse, 
we are pledged to put it all into the next 
collecting plate, else we should have none 
for the next call ! But it does mean that 
every shilling is to be, and I think I may 
say is, held at my Lord's disposal, and is 
distinctly not my own; but, as He has 
entrusted to me a body for my special 
charge, I am bound to clothe that body 
with His silver and gold, so that it shall 
neither suffer from cold, nor bring discredit 
upon His cause ! I still forget sometimes, 
but as a rule I never spend a sixpence 

1 "Consecration Hymn," Poems ^ p. 235. 



1 08 GOLDEN THO UGH TS. 

without the distinct feeling that it is His, 
and must be spent for Him only, even if 
indirectly. b. 

Consecration is not a religiously selfish 
thing. If it sinks into that, it ceases tc 
be consecration. c. 



If the King is indeed near of kin to us, 
the royal likeness will be recognizable. 
d. 

" Ordered in all things." Do you think 
you could improve upon this ordering ? 
Would you like to have a try at it, just 
for yourself only, and just for one day? 
Ah, would you dare it ? What a terrible 
mess we should make if He left it to us, 
or if He entrusted us to order a little bit 
of the lives of those dear ones about whom 
we are so trustless ! k. 



Trust Jesus in and for everything. When 
a trial is past, one does so bitterly regret 
not having trusted Him entirely in it; one 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 109 

sees that we might as well have had all 
the joy and rest of perfect trust all along. 
b. 

Gen. vi. 13. — "Have I also here looked 
after Him that seeth me ? " Question for 
self-examination: Here, in the particular 
place or circumstance or moment where 
we stand. "Have / also?" for He not 

only sees but looks I think there is a 

very present fulfilment of Isa. xlv. 22; if 
we "look" we are saved from each sin or 
temptation as it arises. If we do not look, 
of course we see the winds and waves in- 
stead of Jesus, and then of course we begin 
to sink. When depressed and bothered, 
let us say " Have I also here looked ? " for 
this always comes of not looking; for when 
we do look our faces must be lightened. 
Ps. xxxiv. 5. Even a "potsherd" shines 
in the sun ! /. 



"Keep my lips, that they may be 
Filled with messages from Thee." 

We can hardly consider the keeping of 



no GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

our lips without recollecting that upon 
them, more than all else (though not 
exclusively of all else), depends that 
greatest of our responsibilities, our in- 
fluence. We have no choice in the mat- 
ter; we cannot evade or avoid it; and 
there is no more possibility of our limit- 
ing it, or even tracing its limits, than 
there is of setting a bound to the far- 
vibrating sound-waves, or watching their 
flow through the invisible air. Not one 
sentence that passes these lips of ours but 
must be an invisibly prolonged influence, 
not dying away into silence, but living 
away into the words and deeds of others. 

c 

We started at four or five a.m., walking 
on till we felt inclined to stop and rest: 
our first halt being given to leisurely read- 
ing and prayer in some grand and lonely 
mountain oratory; a plan which we found 
more pleasant and profitable than devot- 
u g the whole time to it indoors before 
starting. Then we strolled on again, halt- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. Ill 

ing or taking refreshment, just as and when 
we felt inclined ; resting for several hours in 
the heat of the day, and making another 

stage or two in the afternoon 

Oh the delicious freedom and sense of 
leisure of those days ! And the veritable 
" renewing of youth," in all senses, that 

it brought !• How we lay down on 

moss and exquisite ferns, and feasted our 
eyes on dazzling snow summits through 
dark, graceful pines, with intense blue sky 
above, and the quiet music of little tor- 
rents coming up from the dell below, and 
with the " visible music " all round us, in 
every possible color-key, of those marvel- 
lously lovely Alpine flowers, which people 
never see who go "in the season," a month 
or two later. How entirely we were rid 
of that imp, Hurry, who wears out our 
lives in England ! " No Hurry ! " It took 
us a long while to realize that delightful 
fact. a. 



"The Lord our Righteousness." — We 
cannot do without this most wonderful 



U2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

name. It can never be an old story to 
us. It is always a " new name " in fresh- 
ness and beauty and power. It is our 
daily need and our daily joy. For strength 
it is indeed "a strong tower; the righteous 
runneth into it, and is safe." For sweet- 
ness it is "as ointment poured forth." In 
it we see at once the highest height and 
the deepest depth, Jehovah, God of God, 
Light of Light, and our need of a righteous- 
ness which is not our own at all, because 
we have none. We stand as upon an Al- 
pine slope, face to face with the highest, 
grandest, purest summit above, and the 
darkest, deepest valley below, seeing more 
of the height because of the depth, and 
more of the depth because of the height. 

d. 

If any work is really God's giving, and 
He puts it into our hearts either to " de- 
vise " (Ex. xxxv. 32), or into the power of 
our hands to " do " (v. 35), no fear but He 
will also provide "stuff" sufficient, whether 
metal or mental ! / 



FRANCES RIDLEY IIAVF.RGAL. 113 

We talk of killing two birds with one 
stone, and think it clever to manage it. 
Think of the incomprehensible wisdom 
which fits all things into your single life 
so that all shall work together for good, 
and then that these "all things" are also 
and at the same time fitted all round into 
the lives of all His children with which 
they come in contact. k. 



11 O Lord, open Thou my lips, and my 
mouth shall show forth Thy praise. " 

And when opened, oh, how much one 
does want to have them so kept for Jesus 
that He may be free to make the most of 
them, not letting them render second- 
rate and indirect service when they might 
be doing direct and first-rate service to 
His cause and kingdom ! It is terrible 
how much less is done for Him than might 
be done, in consequence of the specious 
notion that if what we are doing or saying 
is not bad, we are doing good in a certain 
way, and therefore may be quite easy 
about it. % c. 



ii 4 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

We do not heed the thoughtful look 
on some household face just after family 
prayer or public worship, and our needless 
chat about earthly things acts " the fowls 
of the air." g- 

The sum of our conversation should be, 

as recorded of Anna, 4t She spake 

of Him." Here is our keynote, and what 
wealth of melody and fulness of harmony 
spring from it ! — the melodies of His wore 
"in linked sweetness, long drawn out, 1 
for the right hand; the harmonies of Hii 
works, in ever-varying marvels, for the 
left. g. 

"The Bright and Morning Star." 

— This name of the Lord Jesus seems as 
if it must be meant especially for children; 
for it is those who get up early who see 
the beautiful morning star, shining in the 
quiet sky that is just beginning to be 
touched with a promise of dawn; and He 
says, " They that seek Me early shall find 
Me." j. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 115 

Come noiv, for Jesus of Nazareth is pass- 
ing by, and many are getting His bless- 
ing. Don't wait, either to get better or 

to feel worse ! b. 

Have we not felt that we really want a 
strong hand over our hearts ? that having 
our own way is not so good as another's 
way, if only that other is one to whom our 
hearty and entire confidence and alle- 
giance can be and are given ? Has there 
not been an echo in our souls of the old 
cry, "Give me a king"? — a cry that noth- 
ing can still but this Divine promise, "/ 
will be thy King ! " d. 



Tired, disappointed, and depressed, I 
thought of Matthew xi. 28, " Come unto 
Me all ye that labor," but felt quite tan- 
talized at it because "labor" did not ap- 
ply to me. I took up my Greek Testa- 
ment and Lexicon, and to my delight saw 
that the very same word is used in John 
iv. 6, "Jesus therefore being wearied!* 
Just human, natural, physical fatigue ! 



n6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

So I didn't see why I should not take the 
comfort of it, and I did not trouble to 
think, but He let the words rest me al- 
together. "' 

So "near of kin to us," and yet God i 
Therefore every good thing that we find 
in near human relationships, we shall find 
in Jesus in the immeasurable proportion 
of the divine to the human. Is not this 
worth thinking out, each for ourselves ? 

d. 



The very next time something turns up 
which seems all wrong and disappointing, 
say " all things are of God," therefore this 
thing is " of God." Of whom ? God, the 
Father, — of whom are all things (i Cor. 
viii. 6). Some of us know the force of that 
word by possession, and some by loss. k. 



Surely "The Right Way" 1 will be the 
shining inscription on every Christian's 

1 Poems, p. 204. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 1 1 7 

home path at last; all will be alike in this 
one thing, however diverse in all else. b. 



The devil is very fond of persuading us 
that we have "no leisure so much as to 
eat " when it is a question of Bible study 
He never says that if we have a novel "of 
the earth, earthy," or a clever magazine 
of "modern thought" on hand ! g. 



Every hesitation to yield to His gentle 
separation from the world results in heart 
separation from Him. When He thus 
goeth before, shall we risk being left be- 
hind ? e. 

Following is not standing still. Clearly 
it is not staying just where you always 
were. g. 

If you were going to run a race, you 
would first put down all the parcels you 
might have been carrying. And if you 
had a heavy little parcel in your pocket, 
you would take that out, and lay it down 



n8 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

too, because it would hinder you in run- 
ning. You would know better than tc 
say, "I will put down the parcels which I 
have in my hands, but nobody can see the 
one in my pocket, so that one won't 
matter!" You would "lay aside every 
weight." i. 

It was that one word " cleanseth" which 
opened the door of a very glory of hope 
and joy to me. I had never seen the force 
of the tense before, a continual present, 
always a present tense, not a present 
which the next moment becomes a past. 

b. 



Do not let us translate it into another 
ten^e for ourselves, and read, "did cleanse 
last time we knelt and asked for it," but 
keep to the tense which the Holy Ghost 
has written, and meet the foe-flung darts 
of doubt with faith's great answer, "The 
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth 
(i. e. goes on cleansing) us from all sin." d. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 119 

It is no light thing to come face to face 
with any one of God's promises, and to 
turn away from it with a devil-breathed 
"Except." b. 

Every Hitherto of grace and help is a 
Henceforth 1 of more grace and more help. 
Every experience of the realities of faith 
widens the horizon of the possibilities of 
faith. Every realized promise is the step- 
ping-stone to one yet unrealized. f. 



Perhaps we have had the dreary idea, 
"Nobody wants me!" We never need 
grope in that gloom again, when the 
King Himself desires us ! This desire 
is love active, love in glow, love going 
forth, love delighting and longing. d. 



The outer should be the expression of 
the inner, not an ugly mask or disguise. 
If the King's daughter is to be "all glori- 
ous within," she must not be outwardly a 

1 "Hitherto and Henceforth," Poems, p. 426. 



120 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

fright ! I must dress both as a lady and 
a Christian. The question of cost I see 
very stroirgly, and do not consider myself 
at liberty to spend on dress that which 
might be spared for God's work; but it 
costs no more to have a thing well and 
prettily made, and I should only feel jus- 
tified in getting a costly dress if it would 
last proportionately longer. When work- 
ing among strangers, if I dressed below 
par, it would attract attention and might 
excite opposition; by dressing unremark- 
ably, and yet with a generally pleasing 
effect, no attention is attracted. 

Also, what is suitable in one house is 
not so in another, and it would be almost 
an insult to appear at dinner among some 
of my relatives and friends in what I could 
wear without apology at home; it would 
be an actual breach of the rule "Be cour- 
teous " ; also, I should not think it right 
to appear among wedding guests in a dress 
which would be perfectly suitable for wear- 
ing to the Infirmary. But I shall always 
ask for guidance in all things ! b. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 1 2 1 

When we have once really come to 
Him, it is not only our privilege, but 
our constant joy, to come to Him about 
everything — to go on drinking at the foun- 
tain. It is a beautiful paradox which is 
realized and reconciled in the experience 
of those who come, that we may be con- 
tinually coming afresh without ever going 
away, — always at the fountain-head, and 
yet always cojning to it. e. 



In death we would cling to the words, 
" Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
sinners." Why not in life equally cling 
to, and equally make use of, the prom- 
ise, "He shall save His people from their 
sins," — not merely from sin in general, but 
definitely, "from their sins," personal and 
plural sins? "Is my hand shortened at 
all that it cannot redeem ? or have I no 
power to deliver ? " d. 



All other yokes are sub-included in the 
yoke of our sins, and this is exactly what 
Jesus came to save us from. f. 



122 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

After rain, sunshine; so we set off at 
four in an open carriage to Lauterbrun- 
nen in a perfectly transparent atmosphere 
Fancy nine miles' drive up a deep valley, 
hills six or seven thousand feet high on 
each side, wooded wherever trees could 
get root, and where not, rocky and pre- 
cipitous; between them, at each opening, 
views of snow mountains glittering in 
brilliant light; below, a wild stream, the 
Lutschine, rushing in one perpetual down- 
hill of rapids and little falls; every now 
and then a silver thread of a waterfall 
gleaming out on the farther side of the 
valley, or a broad ribband of one dash- 
ing down the nearer side to our very feet, 
to be crossed by a little bridge; then the 
whole picture " grounded" with all shades 
of the freshest, brightest green, still wet 
with the morning's rain and canopied with 
vivid blue. And at every turn coming 
nearer to the Jungfrau, " Queen of the 
Alps," which fills up the valley in front, 
and only hides herself again when we get 
too close under her silver throne ! a. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 123 

Now for a piece of unmitigated heresy. 
I am inclined to class waterfalls among 
the good things of which one can have 
too much ! I calculated on silence among 
these mountains; and instead of it, one 
has to shout to be heard above the noise. 
Every valley has its roar and rush of wa- 
ter, with a cataract every two or three 
hundred yards, leaping to join the chorus 
of torrents below, from the chorus of tor- 
rents above, and making one appreciate 
Wordsworth's line, which I used to think 
far-fetched: 

" The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep." 

All night long you hear it, and clearer 
and louder than by day. From our win- 
dow at Meyringen five separate waterfalls 
were within sight and sound. It is a sad 
case of nerves versus poetry, and will go 
far to prove the truth with which a chap- 
lain hereabout took my measure, his con- . 
elusion being that I was " very matter of 
fact, and had no poetry in me ! " a. 



124 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

When we limit God's power to "keep," 
we look at our frailty more than at 
His omnipotence. Where is the line 
to be drawn, beyond which He is not 
"able"? b. 



He who knows our little faith never 
gives an isolated promise. He leaves us 
no chance of overlooking or misunder- 
standing any one, except by wilful neg- 
lect, because it is always confirmed in 
other parts of His word. f. 



As to "perfectionism" or "sinlessness," 
I have all along, and over and over again, 
said I never did, and do not, hold either. 
"Sinlessness" belongs only to Christ now, 
and to our glorified state in heaven. I 
believe it to be not merely an impossibility 
on earth, but an actual contradiction of 
our very being, which cannot be "sinless" 
till the resurrection change has passed 
upon us. But being kept from falling, 
kept from sins, is quite another thing, and 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 125 

the Bible seems to teem with commands 
and promises about it. b. 



The very attributes which are full of 
terror to "the King's enemies," are full of 
comfort to the King's friends. Thus His 
omniscience is like the pillar which was 
"a cloud and darkness" to the Egyp- 
tians, but "gave light by night" to the 
Israelites. d. 

Do not wait to feel very much "op- 
pressed" before you say, "O Lord, under- 
take for me." Far better say that at first 
than at last, as we have too often done ! 
Bring the prayer in one hand, and the 
promises in the other, joining them in the 
faith-clasp of "Do as Thou hast said!" 
And put both the hands into the hand 
of Him whom the Father heareth al- 
ways, saying, "Do Thou for me, O Lord 
God, for Thy name's sake," for the sake 
of Jehovah-Jesus, the mighty God, the 
everlasting Father, yet the Saviour of 
sinners. f. 



126 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Translate our daily prayer, " Thy king- 
dom come," into daily, burning, glowing 
action for its prosperity. d. 



Love craves nearness. This is the very 
thing that differences love from the lesser 
glow of mere pity, or kindness, whatever 
their degrees or combinations. e 



" All " is all; and as we may trust Him 
to cleanse from the stain of past sins, so 
we may trust Him to cleanse from all 
present defilement; yes, all! b. 



I shall never forget a friend of mine 
reading Isa. liii., and stopping short in 
verse 5, — "And with His stripes we are 
. . . made a little better ! " Oh for more 
practical faith in the Healer of souls ! how 
few expect Him to make them more than 
" a little better" in the teeth of " He will 
heal," and all the other promises. /. 



I like to think how impossible it would 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 127 

be to untwine Christ and the things of 
Christ from our life, inner and outer; when 
one comes to think about it, He is so real- 
ly and truly interwoven with our life that 
one seems to feel the "no separation " not 
merely as a grand promise, but an actual- 
ity which cannot be otherwise. b. 



In the morning we want something to 
arouse us, and to help us to go brightly 
and bravely through the day. So here 
are "Morning Bells" to waken up the 
little hearts, and to remind them that 
we must not only rest in Jesus, but walk 
in Him. If the motto of "Little Pil- 
lows" might be "Come to Jesus," the 
motto of "Morning Bells" might be 
" Follow Jesus." i. 



The full value of exact following is not 
learnt in the valleys or pastures. It is on 
the "high places" and on the unsullied 
snowfields that one discovers this. 

It is when we are high above the green 



128 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

slopes, seeing no track but our guide's 
own footsteps, that we learn its safety. 
He set his foot on that stone; there you 
must set yours, for the next is loose and 
would betray you; he planted his alpen- 
stock on that inch of rock: there you must 
plant yours, for an inch either way would 
give no firm hold; he climbed by that jut 
of rock: so must you, for the other would 
be too hard a step; he sprang but half 
way over that torrent, and you must do 
the same at cost of wetting your feet, 
for he knew that the slab of rock which 
you could have reached at one bound 
was treacherously slippery and danger- 
ous, a. 



If you would only take one gospel, and 
read it through with the earnest purpose 
of noting, by the Holy Spirit's guidance, 
what the steps of Jesus are, you would 
soon see clearly whether you are follow- 
ing or not, far more clearly than by read- 
ing any amount of books about it, or con- 
sulting any number of human counsellors 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 129 

Take for to-day only one indication of 
what those steps were. " Who went about 
doing good." Do your steps correspond 
with that ? It is not, " went about doing 
no harm," but actively and positively " do- 
ing good." e. 

It struck me again here, as in Scotland 
last summer, what marvellous lavishment 
of beauty God has poured upon the details 
of His works. For here, in the presence 
of these culminations of earthly magnifi- 
cence, scenes beyond what we ever saw 
before, if the eye dropped and rested on 
the very ground it was just as beautiful in 
its proportion as if there were no other 
loveliness for us far or near; ferns, and 
flowers, and grasses, and mossy boulders, 
and tiny streams, every square foot being 
a little world of beauty. One item in 
these minor charms was the luxuriant way 
in which the firs had sown themselves, 
thousands of wee fir-trees springing up on 
banks and among rocks, some standing 
alone in green tiny gracefulness, others 



130 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

growing in the prettiest little miniature 
groves you can imagine. I never saw firs 
growing this way anywhere else; they 
were like kittens to cats, so very pretty 
and petable. a. 

So your fiery trial is still unextinguished. 
But what if it be but His beacon light on 
your upward path ! b. 



We see something of God's infinite 
greatness and wisdom when we try to fix 
our dazzled gaze on infinite space. But 
when we turn to the marvels of the mi- 
croscope, we gain a clearer view and more 
definite grasp of these attributes by gaz- 
ing on the perfection of His infinitesimal 
handiworks. Just so, while we cannot 
realize the infinite love which fills eternity, 
and the infinite vistas of the great future 
are " dark with excess of light" even to 
the strongest telescopes of faith, we see 
that love magnified in the microscope of 
the moments, brought very close to us. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 13 * 

and revealing its unspeakable perfection 
of detail to our wondering sight. c. 



What mistakes we should make if we 
had the choosing, and marked out nice 
smooth paths for our friends ! b. 



My experience is, that it is nearly al- 
ways just in proportion to my sense of 
personal insufficiency in writing anything, 
that God sends His blessing and power 
with it. . . . I think He must give us that 
total dependence on Him for every word, 
which can only come by feeling one's own 
helplessness and incapacity, before He can 
very much use us. And so I think this 
very sense of not having gifts is the best 
and most useful gift of them all. It is so 
much sweeter to have to look up to Him 
for every word one writes. I often smile 
when people call me " gifted," and think 
how little they know the real state of the 
case. b. 



132 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

"O Master!" It is perhaps my favor- 
ite title, because it implies rule and sub- 
mission; and this is what love craves. 
Men may feel differently, but a true wo- 
man's submission is inseparable from deep 
love. b. 

When that word has truly gone up from 
the soul to Christ, then we have felt what 
we can never put into any other words. 
It is the single diamond of soul-expres- 
sion, and we have cast it at His feet for 
ever. g. 

We have had enough of revolutions 
and revolts, of tyrants and traitors, of law- 
lessness and of self-framed codes. Other 
lords (and oh, how many!) have had do- 
minion over us. He has permitted us to 
be their servants, that now, by blessed 
and restful contrast, we may know His 
service. d. 



He who brings the flood has provided 
the Ark. And the door is open. e. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 133 

In perplexities, — when we cannot un- 
derstand what is going on around us — 
cannot tell whither events are tending — 
cannot tell what to do, because we can- 
not see into or through the matter before 
us, — let us be calmed and steadied and 
made patient by the thought that what 
is hidden from us is not hidden from Him. 
If He chooses to guide us blindfold, let 
Him do it! It will not make the least 
difference to the reality and Tightness of 
the guidance. d. 

I find (having fairly tried) that the 
whole gift of verse is taken from me. I 
think it will some day be restored (as 
once before after five years' suspension); 
but at present I could not write a hymn 
or poem. Thus God proves to me it is 
directly from Him, not a power to be 
used at my will, but only when He will; 
ind I would rather have it so. b. 



In the interests of the bright side and 
true side of " His guerdon here," glance 



i 3 4 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

at the typical contrast between the labor 
m the house of bondage, making bricks 
in full tale without any straw given or 
provided, and the splendid supply of ma- 
terials for " the work of the service of the 
sanctuary." " For the stuff they had was 
sufficient for all the work to make it, and 
too much!" Was not this written for our 
learning, dear fellow workers ? We may 
have no " stuff" at all, to our thinking; 
we may be saying, " Have I now any 
power at all to say anything?" But just 
as these costly and fitting materials were 
brought to Bezaleel and Aholiab " every 
morning," so regularly and abundantly 
shall the " stuff" be supplied to " every 
one whose heart stirred him up to come 
unto the work to do it." k. 



One may almost certainly distinguish 
between a tyro and an old hand by watch- 
ing for a few minutes the style of march. 
A novice will walk at an irregular pace 
according to the irregularities of the 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 135 

ground, making little " spurts" when she 
comes to an easy bit, and either putting 
on steam or lagging behind for extra 
steep ones; stopping to gather flowers 
and poke at curious boulders; taking long 
or short steps according to circumstances, 
and never thinking of such a thing as no- 
ticing, much less imitating, the steady 
rhythm of the guide's walk. ... Very 
likely she dashes ahead or aside, and pres- 
ently has to be recalled to the track, which 
is not so easy to keep as she supposed. 

One with more experience is quite con- 
tent to take the guide's pace, knowing 
certainly that it pays in the long run, and 
saves an enormous amount of fatigue, and 
therefore of time also. Very short steps, 
slowly, silently, and steadily placed, but 
as regular as martial music, never varying 
in beat, never broken by alternation of 
strides and pauses — this is the guide's ex- 
ample for uphill work; and yet it is what 
one never believes in till one has learnt 
by experience that one gets through twice 
as much by it. #. 



136 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

All true coming to Jesus must issue -in 
coming after Him. e. 



We tell a little child to look where it 
steps and pick its way; but Christ's little 
children are to do just the opposite: they 
are to look away to Him. 1 " Let thine 
eyes look," not down, but " right on, and 
let thine eyelids look straight before thee." 
Why? Because "He it is that doth go 
before thee," and it is on Him, the Light 
of the world, that the gaze must be fixed. 

Look out on creation, — stars by night, 
all that light reveals by day, — not only 
that your Father made them all, but all 
for your sakes. Look at wonders of nat- 
ural history, and science, some of us have 
keen enjoyment in these. Recollect not 
only that they are the wonderful works 
and laws and embodied thoughts of your 
Father, but all for your sakes. Look at 
the strange entangled mazes (as they seem 

1 "Looking unto Jesus," Poems, p. 256. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 137 

to us, being the wrong side of the tapes- 
try,) of His government of the world, His 
ways with man in history, His singular 
present overrulings and developings of 
things, — all for your sakes. Perhaps you 
can accept the great facts that God made 
the world and governs the world all for 
His children's sakes, and yet do not prac- 
tically believe that the things quite close 
to you every day, this day, are all for 
your sakes. You don't like some of these 
things, yet they are for your sakes. They 
are so arranged as to turn out for the 
very best for you. k. 



"All things work together for our 
good;" not merely shall work, but act- 
ually are working. All things, if it means 
all things, must include exactly those 
very things, whatever they may be, which 
you and I are tempted to think will hurt 
us, or, at least, may hurt us. /« 



What right have we to pick out one of 
His faithful sayings, and say we don't ex- 



1 3& GOLDEN THO UGHTS. 

pect Him to fulfil that ? What defence 
can we bring, what excuse can we invent, 
for so doing ? c. 

Did we ever receive the powerful fulfil- 
ment of any promise so long as we argued 
and reasoned, whether with our own hearts 
or with others, and said, " How can these 
things be?" Has it not always been, 
that we had to lay down our arms and 
accept God's thought and God's way in- 
stead of our own ideas, and be willing that 
He should " speak the word only," and 
believe it as little children believe our 
promises? Then, never till then, the 
promise and the privilege became ours 
not only in potentiality but in actuality. 
.... It is the old way and the only way: 
" Who through faith obtained prom- 
ises." f 

How well we can afford to wait for 
some of our " good things " ! b. 



Who that has had any dealings with 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 139 

Christ at all, but must bear witness that 
He has indeed dealt gently with us. d. 



We are not to look for a very dismal 
afternoon of life with only some final sun- 
set glow; for He says it "shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day; " and " more 
and more" leaves no dark intervals; we 
are to expect a continually brightening 
path. /. 

"The king's business required haste." — ■ 
And yet there is no other business about 
which average Christians take it so easy. 
They " must" go their usual round, they 
"must" write their letters, they "must" 
pay off their visits and other social claims, 
they "must" do all that is expected of 
them; and then, after this and that and 
the other thing is cleared off, they will do 
what they can of the King's business. 
They do not say "must" about that, un- 
less it is some part of His business which 
is undertaken at second-hand, and with 



1 40 GOLDEN THO UGHTS. 

more sense of responsibility to one's cler- 
gyman than to one's King. d. 



" Ye know that your labor is not in 
vain in the Lord." That for the past 
work. For the present: "I will direct 
their work in truth." And for all our 
future work, a singular shining in the 
eastern horizon: "Mine elect shall long 
enjoy the work of their hands." g. 



" Nothing shall by any means hurt you." 
Nothing, really and absolutely nothing ! 
So there is not the least loophole left for 
the shadow of a fear to steal in. No end 
to the promise; it won't leave off,— good 
for every day and moment all along, "till 
glory." ^ 

I could not help smiling when my kind 
doctor said, "I dare say you feel rather 
depressed." I said: "No, indeed! quite 
happy, only tired and want to be quiet." 
Of course I should like to be at work, and 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 14* 

it seems strange how often I am hindered 
from it. You are always pegging away; 
but I like to think I shall serve Him up 
there, and I would rather serve than 
rest. b. 

Those who have to do little more than 
" stand and wait" here, will perhaps revel 
even more than others in the new experi- 
ence of active service, coming at once, as 
it were, into its full delight. f. 



I never thought of death as going 
through the dark valley or down to the 
river; it often seemed to me a going up 
to the golden gates and lying there in 
the brightness, just waiting for the gate 
to open for me. ... I never before was, 
so to speak, face to face with death. It 
was like a look into heaven. b. 



" Let Thy judgments help me," I think 
God's judgments prove our faith, forcing 
us to trust more, to lean more. " Help," 



142 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

because He comes so very close, helps us 
when no one else can. k. 



Every trial of our faith is but a trial of 
His faithfulness, and is "much more pre-, 
cious than gold which perisheth." c. 



Have the prayers of my dear friends 
held me back from going to be with the 
Beloved One ? Or is it that He has some 
more little work for me to do, and so has 
only been richly answering all your prayers 
in the "perfect peace" in which He has 
kept me ? Oh, He has been so tenderly 
gracious to me; it has been such gentle, 
faithful loving-kindness all through. It 
seems worth even coming back from the 
very golden gates if I may but in some 
way " tell of His faithfulness." I do wish 
people would but trust Jesus out and out, 
and give themselves up utterly to Him; 
and then wouldn't they find rest to their 
souls ! ^ # 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 143 

No one need be cast down because he 
cannot yet tell of abiding joy, or because 
others cannot tell of it. Thank God, our 
experience is not the measure of His prom- 
ises; they are all yea and Amen in Christ 
Jesus, and our varying, short-falling ex- 
perience touches neither their faithfulness 
nor their fulness. f. 



" What wilt thou that I shall do unto 
thee?" Wonderful question, with a won- 
derful promise wrapped up in it ! For it 
meant that the mighty Son of God was 
ready to do whatever this poor blind beg- 
gar asked. What did he ask ? First, just 
what he most wanted ! Not what he sup- 
posed he ought to ask, nor what any one 
had taught him to ask, nor what other 
people asked; but simply what he wanted. 
Secondly, he asked straight off for a mir- 
acle ! He never stayed to question whe- 
ther it was likely or not, nor how Jesus 
of Nazareth would do it, nor whether it 
was too much to ask all at once, nor 



144 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

whether the people would think him too 
bold. He knew what he wanted, and he 
believed that Jesus of Nazareth could do 
it, and so he asked, and that was enough. 
" And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy 
sight: thy faith hath saved thee. ,, A. 



Giving up for His sake does not "deny," 
but delight my "self." It seems to me 
that He has answered my prayer, and 
taken my "self" to be His own, and on 
His side. ^ # 

But St. Paul got farther still (Rom. viii. 
37): "In all these things we are more than 
conquerors," etc. What things ? We can't 
write out quite such a serious list as he 
did of things which seem to be against 
us - k. 

Doubt indulged soon becomes doubt 
realized. * 

What gives the Alpine climber confi- 
dence in wild, lonely, difficult passes or 



FRANCES RIDLEY HA V ERG A L. 145 

ascents, when he has "not passed this 
way heretofore " ? It is that his guide 
has been there before; and also that in 
every present step over unknown and pos- 
sibly treacherous ice or snow, his guide 
"goeth before." /. 



When the snow slopes, so cool and 
pure and beautiful, are reached, another 
phase of following is learnt. There is not 
the excitement and effort of the rock 
climbing, and at first it seems very quiet 
and easy work, with a special exhilara- 
tion of its own, making one feel as if one 
had started quite fresh, all the rest of the 
journey counting for nothing. Once we 
set out on such a slope, tracking after our 
guide in a general sort of way, rather in- 
terested in making our own footprints, 
and hardly distinguishing his from those 
of our companions. If we turned to look 
back, it was surprising what a number of 
unconscious little curves our feet had 
made. But the snow was rather soft, and 
we soon found it much harder work than 



146 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

we expected. One of us was walking, as 
she always did, close behind the guide, 
because she was not quite so strong as 
the rest, and was therefore under his es- 
pecial care. Suddenly she called out, " Oh, 
do set your feet exactly in the guide's foot- 
steps, you can't think how much easier it 
is ! " So we tried it, and certainly should 
not have believed what a difference it 
would make. All the difficulty and effort 
seemed gone; the fatiguing sinking and 
laborious lifting of our feet were needless; 
we set them now exactly where the guide's 
great foot had trodden, keeping his order 
of right and left, and all was easy, a hun- 
dred steps less toil than twenty before. 
But, to have the full -benefit of this, one 
needed to keep also very near to the 
guide, for the last comers trod rather in 
their companions' footmarks, and were 
often misled by some false or uncertain 
treading of these, which marred the per* 
fectness of the original steps. a. 



Following the steps is quite a differ- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 1 47 

ent thing from thinking to follow one's 
own idea of the general direction of a 
course. e. 

" The things which He suffered " include 
and cover, and stretch wide on every side 
beyond, all possible " sufferings - of this 
present time." It is in patient suffering, 
rather than in doing, that we are espe- 
cially called " to follow His steps." f. 



Do not smile at a very homely thought. 
If our feet are not our own, ought we not 
to take care of them for Him whose they 
are ? Is it quite right to be reckless about 
" getting wet feet," which might be guarded 
against either by forethought or after- 
thought, when there is, at least, a risk of 
hindering our service thereby ? Does it 
please the Master when even in our zeal 
for His work we annoy anxious friends by 
carelessness in little things of this kind? c. 



Noah did not " put off." He and his 
family entered the self-same day into the 



148 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Ark. I wonder if any of Noah's acquaint- 
ances were thinking about coming when 
the flood overtook them, and even coming 
"gradually" nearer! We are told that 
Noah only remained alive, and they that 
were with him in the Ark. Then, once 
more, " Come thou into the Ark," that 
when the " great and terrible day " comes, 
you may be " found of Him in peace," 
" found in Him." e. 



No one ever had a glimmer of a will 
to come, but that shining " whosoever" 
flashed its world-wide splendor for his 
opening eyes. f m 

If our hands are full of " other things," 
they cannot be filled with "the things 
that are Jesus Christ's"; there must be 
emptying before there can be any true 
filling. So if we are sorrowfully seeing 
that our hands have not been kept foi 
Jesus, let us humbly begin at the be- 
ginning, and ask Him to empty them 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 149 

thoroughly, that He may fill them com- 
pletely, c. 

Waiting for Him is waiting WITH Him, 
I am breaking rules in writing so much, 
but I could not help wanting to tell you 
how very kind He has been to me, and I 
don't think any Christian could be more 
utterly unworthy than I of such gentle, 
gracious dealing. I doubted and mis- 
trusted Him for so many years, and what 
I used to call " terrible conflict" I now 
see to have been simple unbelief. b. 



Perhaps this is the sad secret of many 
a mourning life among God's children. 
They are calling sin by other names. 
They think it is only natural tempera- 
ment and infirmity, for which they are 
to claim sympathy, to go on doubting 
and distrusting their Saviour and their 
God; yet "this is His commandment, 
That we should believe on the name of 
His Son Jesus Christ," and this " Trust in 
Him at all times." They think they are 



150 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

to be tenderly pitied for having such a 
burden to bear, and such sadness of heart; 
yet this is His commandment, " Cast thy 
burden upon the Lord;" and this, "Re- 
joice in the Lord alway." They do not 
think they can exactly help their hearts 
being so cold that they do not know 
whether they love Him or not; yet this 
is His commandment, "Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart." 
They almost feel as if their state were a 
rather interesting one. g. 



I do not know any one promise in all 
the Bible for the lingerers. e. 



Is it not often the spiritual leper, the 
conscious outcast, the famine-stricken, 
possessionless soul, who takes the bold- 
est step into the fullest salvation, and 
finds deliverance and abundance and 
riches beyond what the more favored 
and older inmate of the King's house- 
hold knows anything about ? d. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 15 l 

He said that the Holy Spirit should 
bring all things to our remembrance. It 
is no use laying the blame on our poor 
memories, when the Almighty Spirit is 
sent that He may strengthen them. e. 



We cannot remember what we do not 
know. We must know the Lord Jesus 
Christ before we can truly remember Him 
at His table; for He does not say that we 
are to do it in remembrance of what He 
said, or even of what He did. g. 



" Let my lord the King now speak." We 
expect Him to speak some time, but not 
actually and literally "now," while we 
kneel before Him. And therefore we do 
not listen, and therefore we do not hear 
what He has to say to us. 
. What about last time we knelt in 
prayer ? Surely He had more to say to 
us than we had to say to Him, and yet 
we never waited a minute to see ! We 
did not give Him opportunity for His 



152 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

gracious response. We rushed away from 
our King's presence as soon as we had 
said our say, and vaguely expected Him 
to send His answers after us somehow 
and some time, but not there and then. 
What wonder if they have not yet reached 
us ! The only wonder is that He ever 
speaks at all when we act thus. If Mary 
had talked to the Lord Jesus all the time 
she sat at His feet, she would not have 
" heard His word." But is not this pretty 
much what we have done ? d. 



I have just begun to work a little, as a 
sort of "half-timer" (to use the factory 
expression), after twelve months of " call- 
ing apart": . . . But it has been the most 
precious year of my life to me. It is worth 
any suffering to prove for one's self the truth 
of " When thou passest through the wa- 
ters I will be with thee," and worth being 
turned back (as it seemed) from the very 
golden gates, if one may but "tell of His 
faithfulness." It is so real. b. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 153 

The guide decides your rest as well as 
your progress, if you are wise enough to 
let him. He very soon measures your 
powers, and not only knows precisely 
when a crevasse is just too wide for you 
to leap without help, or a rock just too 
awkward for you to climb, but he also 
seems to know precisely when you had 
better make longer or shorter halts. 
Sometimes you are unwilling to rest 
when he proposes it, and perhaps he lets 
you have your own way and go on, and 
then you are quite certain to be sorry for 
it. But more often he insists, and then 
you always find he was right, and that he 
had timed the halt better than you would 
have done. a. 



And He gives us "rest on every side," 
— complete rest, guarded and sheltered all 
round. e. 

I only hope relationship won't preclude 
a big " inasmuch " for you all." * k. 

1 To her sisters, during an illness. 



154 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Some limit His " gracious Inasmuch" to 
services for His sake to the poor only. 
Yet the " strangers " whom He bids us 
love, may be rich in all but the friendli- 
ness and kindness which we may show 
them; and the "sick" may be those 
among our own dear ones who need our 
ministry. Why should we fancy it is only 
those who are not near and dear to 
us, to whom we may minister "as unto 
Him"? d% 

Perishing, failing, dying,— how the very 
words "everlasting life" shine out to us 
in the darkness ! €t 



If we set ourselves to watch the Lord's 
dealings with us, we shall often be able 
to detect a most beautiful correspondence 
and proportion between each individual 
"chastening" and its own resulting "af- 
terward." The habit of thus watching 
and expecting will be very comforting, 
and a great help to quiet trust when some 
new chastening is sent: for then we shall 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 155 

simply consider it as the herald and ear- 
nest of a new " afterward." f. 



It is something to set to one's own per- 
sonal seal that God is true to a whole set 
of promises, with which one could have 
nothing to do except in very real trial of 
some sort, and one may as well let Him 
choose what sort. b. 



Trusting in the name of the Lord, the 
Triune Jehovah — Father, Saviour, Com- 
forter — will lead you on, not perhaps to 
any great radiance of light as yet, but to 

staying upon your God Both the 

trusting and staying may be at first in the 
dark, but they will not be always in the 
dark. He that believeth on Him shall 
not abide in darkness. g. 



It has struck me very much lately, that 
the Lord's most used and blessed workers 
are almost always weighted in some way 
or other. I don't know one who, to our 



IS 6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

limited view, is not working under weights 
and hindrances of some sort, contrasting 
with mere professors who seem so much 
more favorably placed for what they don't 
do. bt 

Those very near us often need strength- 
ening; are we right if they have practi- 
cally to look farther for the strength- 
ening which it might be ours to give? 
There may be a spiritual application of 
providing specially for those of our own 

house. * 

& • 

Judges i. 3— compare Heb x. 24. We 
have each our separate " lot " to conquer, 
but here is a hint of help which we shall 
find real. The usual thing is to help, or 
expect to be helped by, other folks in this 
war of extermination and possession, but 
you see Judah did not even go so far as 
his half-brothers; it was Simeon, his own 
brother, to whom he went. Satan is quick 
enough to know how much brothers and 
sisters and very near relatives generally 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 157 

might help each other, and I think that 
quite accounts for the difficulty so very 
often felt in breaking the ice ! Singular, 
too, that the wishes and requests for help 
came not from the smaller, but the larger 
tribe, and from one of the great standard 
bearers. Is there a type here of the Lion 
of the tribe of Judah condescending to ask 
and accept of helpers ? See Judges v. 23. 
Jesus calling His weak brethren to fight 
in His great battles, and then promising 
to fight ours! "I likewise will go with 
thee into thy lot." Though Simeon " went 
with him," there is no mention of his help, 
the victories were all Judah's; and still it 
was all Judah's triumph when he went 
with Simeon his brother. (Vs. 17, 18). 

/. 



There will be no more suffering with 
Him in heaven, only reigning with Him; 
no more fighting under His banner, only 
sitting with Him on His throne. But to- 
day we may prove our loving and grateful 
allegiance to our King in the presence of 



158 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

His enemies, by rising up and going forth 
with Him,- — forth from a life of easy idle- 
ness or selfish business, — forth into what- 
ever form of blessed fellowship in His work, 
His wars, or, it may be, of His sufferings, 
the King Himself may choose for us. We 
have heard His call, " Come unto Me." 
To-day He says, " Come with Me." d. 



This glacier water is a peculiar color, 
which no word describes so well as Job 
vi. 15, 16: "The stream of brooks which 
are blackish by reason of the ice, and 
wherein the snow is hid." You never see 
the same "blackish" look in any other 
water but these glacier streams; and "by 
reason of the ice wherein the snow is hid" 
is a wonderful touch of true and poetical 
description. a% 

Don't shrink from finding hitherto un- 
recognized commands; He only "com- 
mands/^ our good" ; let us shrink rather 
from living in unknown disobedience to 
* nv - b. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 159 

When we bid a child to " Come " we do 
not count it obedience unless it comes at 
once, then and there. It is not obedience 
if it stops to consider, and coolly tells you 
it is " really thinking about coming," and 
waits to see how long you will choose to 
go on calling it. 

What right have we to treat our holy 
Lord as we would not think of letting a 
naughty child treat us ! He says, "Come 
now." And "now" does not mean to- 
morrow. "To-day, if ye will hear His 
voice, harden not your hearts." e. 



It was on Advent Sunday, 1873, I first 
saw clearly the blessedness of true con- 
secration. I saw it as a flash of electric 
light, and what you see you can never 
wtsec. There must be full surrender be- 
fore there can be full blessedness. God 
admits you by the one into the other, k. 



I see nothing about "sometimes" in 
any of His promises. d. 



160 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

The Lord did not say "a lo7ig while 
afterward," and do not let us gratuitously 
insert it. It rather implies that, as soon 
as the chastening is over, the peaceable 
fruit shall appear. f m 



When one hears very perfect music, 
pleasure overshoots itself into pain, the 
exquisite thrill is just too much, one longs 
to dare to let it all out in tears, the cup 
of enjoyment overflows as the hand trem- 
bles with delight, and the nectar is lost 
through its very abundance. But if one 
has a share in the performance of the 
very same, the enjoyment is more com- 
plete because less intense and concen- 
trated; the physical action of hand or 
voice is the safety valve, and just takes 
off the too keen edge, just keeps the thrill 
of pleasure from rising, yes rising, into 
pain. 

It is exactly thus with these mountains. 
The strange unique solemn beauty would 
be too oppressive, the sense of it would 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 161 

weigh one's soul down into awe, would be 
like a mighty hand upon one's breast, 
stopping the very breath of one's soul. 
But the physical exertion is just the 
needed balance; one is in motion, there 
is effort, there is even the sense of inhal- 
ing a different and most exhilarating air; 
one is thus kept within the region of real 
enjoyment; one has not time for the snow 
silence to fall on one's heart. The pleas- 
ure is more perfect for one's whole being, 
just because it is more imperfect for the 
higher part of that being. If one were 
borne on an angel's wings up to Pierre 
Pointue, one would hardly dare speak in 
the sudden presence of the snow glory; 
but as one comes up on a mule and grasps 
an alpenstock, one is more inclined to 
shout and laugh with delight, and hasten 
to scramble higher. a. 



It is really exciting and wonderful and 
thrilling, beyond almost anything, to see 
that first marvellous rose-fire suddenly 



i6 2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

light up peak after peak. I think it beats 
the Hallelujah Chorus ! a. 



God made Jesus King over you, because 
He loved you, and that with nothing less 
than the love wherewith He loved Him. 
Which is the more wonderful — the love 
that devised such a gift, or the gift that 
was devised by such love ! d. 



What is the Bride's true and central 
treasure ! What calls forth the deepest, 
brightest, sweetest thrill of love and 
praise? Not the Bridegroom's priceless 
gifts, not the robe of His resplendent 
righteousness, not the dowry of unsearch- 
able riches, not the magnificence of the 
palace home to which He is bringing her, 
not the glory which she shall share with 
Him, but Himself ! c. 



Oh, do let us leave off morbidly look- 
ing to see exactly how much we love 
(which is just like trying to warm our- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 163 

selves with a thermometer, and perhaps 
only ends in doubting whether we love at 
all), and look straight away at His love 
and His desire ! d. 



His love ! What manner of love is it ? 
What should be quoted to prove or de- 
scribe it ? First the whole Bible with its 
mysteries and marvels of redemption, then 
the whole book of Providence and the 
whole volume of creation. Then add to 
these the unknown records of eternity 
past and the unknown glories of eternity 
to come, and then let the immeasurable 
quotation be sung by " angels and arch- 
angels, and all the company of heaven," 
with all the harps of God, and still that 
love will be untold, still it will be " the 
love of Christ that passeth knowledge." 

c. 

In deeper humility and stronger faith 
let us listen further to the voice of our 
Beloved, as He breathes names of in- 
comprehensible condescension and love 



1 64 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Shall we contradict Him here, in the ten- 
derest outflow of His divine affection, and 
say, "-Not so, Lord"? Shall we not rath- 
er adoringly listen, and let Him say even 
to us in our depths of utter unworthiness, 
"My sister, My spouse," " My love, My 
dove, My undefiled," answering only with 
a wondering, yet unquestioning, ."I am 
Thine," "I am all that Thou choosest to 
say that I am " ? f. 



No such exquisite story of love and for- 
giveness was ever imagined by any writer ; 
no such climax of tenderness as Joseph s 
words through his tears, "Come near to 
me, I pray you." Only one thing surpass- 
es the type, and that is the antitype, e. 



The more we have known of the plague 
of our own heart, the more inconceivably 
wonderful this indwelling of Christ will 
appear, — much more wonderful than that 
He chose a manger as His royal rest- 
ing-place, for that had never been de- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 165 

filed by sin, and had never harbored His 
enemy. d. 

The sun had struck the summits with 
very beautiful coloring, something between 
amber and crimson; and Mr. S. called a 
halt and would have the Morning Hymn! 
It was very bad economy of wind. I sang 
two verses and then " struck." Sticking 
half way up a snow slope, holding on by 
a projecting crag at four a.m., is not the 
most favorable position for hymn-singing, 
however inspiring the sunrise may be. a. 



Think about it a little. What will it 

be to be able to put all the new 

rapture of praise into living action for 
Him ! Able to go on serving Him day 
and night, without any weariness in it, 
and never a hateful shadow of weariness 
of it; without any interruptions; without 
any mistakes at all; without any thinking 
how much better some one else could 
have done it, or how much better we 
ought to have done it ; above all, without 



1 66 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the least mixture of sin in motive or deed 
— pure, perfect service of Him whom we 
love and see face to face ! f 



Deut. iii. 24 — " O Lord God, Thou hast 
begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness." 
We cannot conceive of God as doing any- 
thing incompletely (1 Sam. iii. 12), so be- 
ginning to show implies a pledge (St. 

John i. 50) All God's revealings 

are only "beginning to show." (Job xxvi. 
14.) Was there a progressive showing even 
to the Son in His human nature ? (St. John 
v. 20.) I wonder if Moses thought of his 
prayer in Ex. xxxiii. 13,— if he thought of 
that with the present verse in his own 
psalm xc, verse 16, P. B. V. Compare 
Deut. ii. 31, "begun to give," and there- 
fore " begin to possess." Is there not a 
corresponding " therefore " to follow " be- 
gun to show" ? /. 



I do not suppose any one sees anything 
like all that it [self-consecration] involves 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 167 

at the outset. We have not a notion what 
an amount of waste of power there has 
been in our lives; we never measured out 
the odd corners and the undrained bits, 
and it never occurred to us what good fruit 
might be grown in our straggling hedge- 
rows, nor how the shade of our trees has 
been keeping the sun from the scanty 
crops. And so, season by season, we 
shall be sometimes not a little startled, 
yet always very glad, as we find that bit 
by bit the Master shows how much more 
may be made of our ground, how much 
more He is able to make of it than we did; 
and we shall be willing to work under Him 
and do exactly what He points out, even 
if it comes to cutting down a shady tree 
or clearing out a ditch full of pretty weeds 
and wild-flowers. c. 



Be willing to be really washed. Do not 
be like some little children, who do not 
wish to have a clean white frock put on, 
because they know they cannot go and 



168 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

play in the dirt. Be willing not to go 
back to the dirt any more. h. 



Young Christians are tempted to think 
" separation from "a hard thing, be- 
cause they do not see how it is far more 
than outweighed by " separation unto!' 
Let us think a little of this bright and 
beautiful side of it. g. 



This morning I read 2 Corinthians iv. in 
the Greek, and was so wonderingly happy 
over that "far more exceeding weight of 
glory." I had not specially noticed the 
Greek before, how magnificently far reach- 
ing and strong it is ! I suppose "from glo- 
ry to glory" is even here and now, and then 
to go beyond this to an eternal weight of 
glory, and then for this to be natf v7tep/3oX?)v 
e£s vitef>fio\?)v y is such a marvellous leading 
on of finite thought into infinite glory ! It 
is like those flights that one now and then 
takes from planets to suns, and suns to 
star systems and cycles, and then away 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 169 

to the farthest nebulae, and then one sees 
no end, for imagination and analogy go on 
till they get lost in infinity. But to think 
that we are actually going right into all 
this glory, and have actually begun with 
it; having the earnest of the purchased 
possession nozv, and absolute certainty of 
all of it before long ! What are flights 
among stars and nebulae compared to 
this ! I have not thought it out, but I 
feel a connection between this and the 
Greek in Ephesians iii. 19. b. 



We know too much about feeding on 
that which is not good, and what profit 
had we in those things whereof we are 
now ashamed ? The Lord has had to 
testify of us, " He feedeth on ashes," 
"feedeth on wind," " feedeth on foolish- 
ness." Most gracious was His decree, 
"They shall eat, and not have enough;" 
"Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied." 
He would not let us be satisfied. And 
now, if we have tasted that the Lord is 



170 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

gracious, we cannot be satisfied with the 
old ashes and wind. g. 



Meanwhile we had a grand sunset, sev- 
eral sunset pictures in one, all thrown up 
by the dark depth of the valley below. 
On the right the Aiguille Verte and 
Aiguille du Dru formed an exquisite 
calm picture apart, both a delicate rose 
color, partly veiled by floating mist of 
semi-transparent silver. Opposite, in- 
tense purple and very stormy -looking 
clouds massed densely all along the 
tops of the Breven range; but their 
other side must have been gorgeous, for 
a weird light was reflected down from 
underneath it upon the upper slopes of 
rock and snow as from a great hidden 
fire, quite different from the direct sun- 
light. Then over the Pic de Varens were 
great rifts of gold, quivering with inten- 
sity and showing distant peaks of softer 
brilliance, changing every minute, as if 
series of golden gates were being unrolled, 



— 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 1 7 I 

revealing gates of opal and pearl beyond 
them. Then to the left and behind the 
Dome and Aiguille du Goute, lit up with 
amber and scarlet, the Mont Maudit shone 
out as a cloud-tipped expanse of glowing 
snow; while the true summit of Mont 
Blanc just glimpsed through cloud, so 
rich in rosefire and so beautiful that it 
was hardly tantalizing that the moment 
of full revelation never came, and all died 
away into white and gray as our bonfire 
blazed up just below us. a. 



u Faithful and True." What a keystone 
to the grand bridge which His promises 
have made for us, over the abyss of de- 
spair and misery ! Faithful as regards us; 
True, essentially and inherently. k. 



Gregorians are to me only curious and 
interesting, like dried plants or fossils, not 
living and lovely. k. 



Ferhaps He grants us power to excel in 



I7 2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

some seemingly very little things, some 
little peculiar gifts which we don't think 
much of. "He that is faithful in that 
which is least? will be enabled to use 
even that for the edifying of some part 
of the Church. Those who have no hand 
in raising the strong pillars, may yet be 
called to give a delicate touch to the lily 
work which shall crown them. g % 



I have just read, and been struck with 
the expression, "possibilities of Christian 
life." In my own case, what were, form- 
erly, only fair, faint, far-off "possibilities," 
are now actualities to me; while a grand 
new horizon of "possibilities" widens out 
before me. I look for these, in God's own 
time, to become actualities; and then to 
see still more holy and happy "possibil- 
ities." This leads one's thoughts on, till 
it seems a bright, sudden clue to the "pos- 
sibilities " of the heavenly life, which I 
think will still open out before us when 
heaven itself is the possessed actuality, 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 1 73 

Then, to think that all these " possibili- 
ties," earthly and heavenly, will never be 
mere probabilities at all, but are, even 
now, certainties ! Is it not glorious ? b. 



"Now I see" that Thou exceedest all 
that God-given mental powers can reach; 
every glimpse is but an opening vista, all 
the music is but a prelude; what I* know 
of Thee only magnifies the yet unknown. 
d. 

But there is a step beyond even this: 
"All things are yours." 1 Here it seems 
as if we want increase of faith, not only 
as to willingness and energy, but as to 
actual capacity to take it in. It seems 
more than we can grasp, we are narrow- 
necked bottles set under a very Niagara 
of grace and blessing. k. 



It is wonderful what a saving of fatigue 
it is if from the very beginning one obeys 

i "All," Poems, p. 271. 



174 GOLD EM THOUGHTS. 

the guide implicitly and follows him ex- 
actly. You spy such a handy " short 
cut," you see so precisely where you 
can join the path again, it will save you 
such a provoking long round, you can't 
think why the guide does not choose it ! 
So away you go, exulting in your clever- 
ness, straight uphill, instead of that tire- 
some zigzag. 

But it is rather steeper than you thought, 
and you get just a little out of breath; and 
you find an awkward little perpendicular 
rock right in the way, and you must go 
round it; and then you get into rhododen- 
dron bushes which are thicker than you 
thought, and you get very wet; and then 
you see your companions reaching the 
point you are making for, and you scram- 
ble and hurry. And by the time you 
have done with your short cut you find 
you have not only gained no time, but 
that the few minutes away from the 
guide have heated you and taken more 
out of you than an hour's steady fol- 
lowing. a% 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 175 

As to sanctification: that it is the work 
of the Holy Spirit, and progressive, is the 
very thing I see and rejoice in. He has 
brought me into the " highway of holi- 
ness," up which I trust every day to pro- 
gress, continually pressing forward, led 
by the Spirit of God. And I do indeed 
find that with it comes a happy trusting, 
not only in all great matters, but in all 
the little things also, so that I cannot say 
" so and so worries me." b. 



The deepest trust leads to the most 
powerful action. It is the silencing oil 
that makes the machine obey the mo- 
tive power with greatest readiness and 
result. f. 

It seems to come natural to send you 
whatever odds and ends come out, so I 
enclose this last leaflet, " What will you 
do without Him ? " l I very seldom write 
at the suggestion of another, but a Lon- 
don worker said she so wanted an appeal 

1 Poems ', p. 42. 



I7 6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

to the outsiders based on my hymn, "I 
could not do without Thee.'' 1 So I told 
her she must pray if she wanted it, and 
I forthwith forgot all about it. Three 
months after, a most strong and sudden 
sense came over me of " what can they, 
what will they, do without Jesus ? " that 
I must write it; and it was not until after- 
wards I recollected that this was the very 
thing that had been asked Some- 
how, I have felt able to ask great bless- 
ings on this leaflet, though it is such a 
poor little simple thing, without a spark 
of poetry about it. £ # 



" Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye 
children of Israel " (Isa. xxvii. 12). Hence, 
individual love and care, personal calling 
and guidance. Yet this is only for the 
wilderness journey, for the " one by one" 
will blossom at last into a grand answe- 
to His prayer, "that they all may be one, 
no longer " one by one." & 

1 Poems, p. 380. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 177 

You know how I have always desired, 
with you, to lay out one's life at the best 
interest for God; and, of course, if you 
can do ten per cent, of work at Rome, 
and only five per cent, among the Severn 
fogs, that is to my mind a strong argu- 
ment, b. 

The call to arise and come away is a 
proof that He is passing by. e. 



11 All things are of God" (2 Cor. v. 18.) 
Here we seem to have a grand foundation 
laid in the past, and a most beautiful and 
perfect daily building upon it in the pres- 
ent, k. 

1 Kings xii. 24, " This thing is from 
Me" (railway to ver. 15.) If anything 
wasn't from the Lord, one would have 
thought Rehoboam's infatuation was that 
thing ! So, it seems a lesson of acquies- 
cence in those most difficult things to ac- 
quiesce in, i. e. what seems to arise from 
man's (or lad's) foolishness and trying- 
ness. / 



178 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

If it be true that " unto the pure all 
things are pure," just as true is it that, tc 
the unrenewed mind and unwatchful heart, 
the holiest things may and do become 
snares and stumbling blocks; satisfied with 
the beauty of earthly sanctuaries, and the 
solemnity of mere earthly forms, they 
yearn not for the " beauty of the Lord our 
God/' who "dwelleth not in temples made 
with hands." £ # 

" People must have entertainment," they 
urge. I do not find that must in the Bible, 
but I do find, " We must all stand before 
the judgment-seat of Christ ! " c. 



At our pet hotel at Zermatt we had hay 
duvets ! of course too hot for July, but 
must be most comfortable in winter, and 
quite as much warmth as a good blanket. 
Just a large doubled square of colored 
print, neat and clean, lightly filled with 
loose hay! What a boon they would be 
in hard winters, and they could be made 
of any old stuff for almost nothing. I shalJ 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 1 79 

try it myself for very poor people, if it 
comes a hard winter. a. 



It is very possible to be fairly faithful in 
much, and yet unfaithful in that which is 
least. We may have thought about our 
gold and silver, and yet have been alto- 
gether thoughtless about our rubbish ! 
Some have a habit of hoarding away old 
garments, " pieces," remnants, and odds 
and ends generally, under the idea that 
they " will come in useful some day;" very 
likely setting it up as a kind of mild vir- 
tue, backed by that noxious old saying, 
" Keep it by you seven years, and you'll 
find a use for it." And so the shabby 
things get shabbier, and moth and dust 
doth corrupt, and the drawers and places 
get choked and crowded; and meanwhile 
all this, that is sheer rubbish to you, might 
be made useful at once, to a degree be- 
yond what you would guess, to some poor 
person. c. 

" Whosoever hath, to him shall be 



180 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

given." So, if He has given you a little 
grace, just enough to wish for more, you 
shall have more; and then when He has 
given you more, that will be the very rea- 
son why you may expect more still, h. 



Judg. 15, 18. Not a model prayer as 
to tone and spirit ! (Contrast Samson's 
mother's tone in chap. xiii. 23.) — for there 
is a sound of petulance and unbelief in it; 
but excellent in its argument, basing what 
we would have God do upon what He has 
already done. /. 

Hebrews xii. 11: " Afterward it yield- 
eth," — singular, not plural, and therefore 
definite and applying to each separ- 
ate trial; "it yieldeth." So one need 
only wonder what afterward, not wonder 
whether! b. 

2 Sam. xix. 30. It all hinges upon 
Jesus coming into the heart as "His 
own house," — altogether " His own " ? 
For if there are some rooms of which 






FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 181 

we do not give up the key, — some little 
sitting-room which we would like to keep 
as a little mental retreat, with a view 
from the window, which we do not quite 
want to give up, — some lodger whom we 
would rather not send away just yet, — 
some little dark closet which we have not 
resolution to open and set to rights, — of 
course the King has not full possession; 
it is not all and really " His own"; and 
the very misgiving about it proves that 
He has therefore not yet "come again in 
peace." It is no use expecting " perfect 
peace," while He has a secret contro- 
versy with us about any withholding of 
what is "His own" by purchase. Only 
throw open all the doors, "and the King 
of Glory shall come in," and then there 
will be no craving for other guests. He 
will "fill this house with glory," and 
there will be no place left for gloom, d. 



It is wonderfully nice to light upon 
something that we really never thought 



1 82 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

of as a possible gift to our Lord, and just 
to give it, straight away, to Him. c. 



I think He has shown me now the 
power and the possibility of " Whosoever 
abideth in Him sinneth not." b. 



The Master keeps the lips of His ser- 
vants, by so filling their hearts with His 
love that the outflow cannot be unloving, 
by so filling their thoughts that the utter- 
ance cannot be un-Christ-like. There 
must be filling before there can be pour- 
ing out; and if there is filling, there must 
be pouring out, for He hath said, " Out 
of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh." c% 

Why is it that such pleasure seems at- 
tached to our finding power of proportion- 
ate expression (of any kind) of what is 
surging within ? is it a hint of the wonder- 
ful delight it will be to have the totally 
new power of clothing, unerringly and in- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 1 83 

variably, the infinitely expanded thoughts 
and intensified feelings in absolutely per- 
fect expression, perfect vehicle of word 
and song ? And, then, this delight will 
be met and completed by perfect under- 
standing and reciprocation. There must 
be this last, because the One Spirit will 
dwell so fully and so equally in both 
speaker and hearer. ... b. 

What will it be to be able at last to 
express not only all the love we now feel, 
but all the perfected love of infinitely en- 
larged capability of loving in the equally 
perfected service of equally enlarged ca- 
pability of serving ? f. 



"Let him that heareth say, Come" . . . 
Not, are you a fit and polished instru- 
ment ? not, are you a practised worker ? 
not, are you already a trained soldier, 
and therefore very capable of enlisting 
others ? not, have you a special gift of 
speech or pen? but simply and solely, 



1 84 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

have you heard for yourself the one sweet 
call, " Come " ? g . 



I have been thinking much lately of the 
Lord's loving-kindness in giving us so 
much wayside enjoyment, and so much 
present reward in all our work for Him. 
In spite of dark life enigmas, and real and 
heavy trials, and often keen inner conflict, 
not to mention daily burdens of weariness 
or anxiety or worry, we can set to our 
seal that His "ways are ways of pleasant- 
ness." For, over and above the great 
gifts, the "blessed hope" set before us, 
and the quiet " peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ," what numbers of 
bits and drops of pleasure and delight one 
gets, which simply would not exist for us 
if we were not His children. b. 



Last night they sang "To Him who for 
our sins was slain," to my little tune 
"Tryphosa"; it went so deliciously, and 
choir and congregation really rang out the 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 185 

Allelulias so brightly that it suddenly 
came over me, as it never did before, 
what a privilege it is even to have con- 
tributed a bit of music for His direct 
praise. It was a sort of hush of praise, all 
alone with Jesus, for His great goodness. 
I had no idea "Tryphosa" was such a 
pretty tune before ! b. 



He has said, " Search ! " Now, are we 
substituting a word of our own, and merely 
reading them? He did not say, "Read 
them," but " Search ! " g. 



Dan. xi. 35. And some of them of un- 
derstanding shall fall, "to try by them" 
(margin). Certainly this is being fulfilled 
nowadays, — these very clever intellectual 
men falling into various degrees of error. 
Is it not that God will "try by them ,: 
who is content to take His word only, 
and who is not "rooted and built up," 
but swayed hither and thither by man's 
words and influence ! 



1 86 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

It seems to me that Jer. xvii. 5, has 
special force when applied to this intel- 
lectually trusting in man; also Isa. ii. 22, 
to the way in which so many are tempted 
to take man's word — especially if a favor- 
ite scientific or religious leader or peri- 
odical — instead of God's utterances. /. 



"Keep my hands, that they may move 
At the impulse of Thy love." 

How many a thing have we " taken in 
hand," as we say, which we expected to 
find an agreeable task, an interest in life, 
a something towards filling up that un- 
confessed "aching void" which is often 
most real when least acknowledged; and 
after a while we have found it change 
under our hands into irksome travail, in- 
volving perpetual vexation of spirit ! The 
thing may have been of the earth and for 
the world, and then no wonder it failed 
to satisfy even the instinct of work, which 
comes natural to many of us. Or it may 
have been right enough in itself, something 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 187 

for the good of others so far as we under- 
stood their good, and unselfish in all but 
unravelled motive, and yet we found it full 
of tangled vexations, because the hands 
that held it were not simply consecrated 
to God. Well, if so, let us bring these 
soiled and tangle-making hands to the 
Lord, " Let us lift up our heart with our 
hands " to Him, asking Him to clear and 
cleanse them. c. 



To every man his own work, and there- 
by an end of all the gnawing purposeless- 
ness, and downweighing uselessness, and 
miserable time-killing, and sense of help- 
less waste of life. Ennui is no part of a 
separated life; there is no room for that 
wretchedness any more. g. 



The very fact of an otherwise vexatious 
interruption is transmuted into a precious 
proof of the nearness of the King. His 
interference implies His interest and His 
presence. d. 



i88 



GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 



Rubens' sacred paintings impress one 
with his wonderful art, Vandyke's with 
the reverent love he betrays for the sub- 
ject itself. fa 

These very feet of ours are purchased 
for Christ's service by the precious drops 
which fell from His own torn and pierced 
feet upon the cross. They are to be His 
errand-runners. How can we let the 
world, the flesh, and the devil have the 
use of what has been purchased with such 
payment ? c 

"When thou passest through the waters 
I will be with thee." Really and truly 
with you, even if the rushing of the wa- 
ters seems to deafen and blind you for the 
moment, so that you cannot see or hear 
Him - b. 

Obtaining mercy comes first; //*<?« find- 
ing grace to help in time of need. You 
cannot reverse God's order. You will not 
find grace to help in time of need till you 
have sought and found mercy to save. e. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 1 89 

Though I have had plenty of invalided 
times, and of short sharp suffering, this 
has been my very first experience of real- 
ly severe and prolonged illness (since Oc- 
tober); and I do not merely think I ought 
to feel, but I do feel, that it was the crown- 
ing blessing of a year of unprecedented 
blessing and yet of many trials. " Great 
is Thy faithfulness" shines on every day 
of it; and '" I will fear no evil" is more 
then ever a very song to me. b. 



It is just what He did with me last 
year, it is another turned lesson} I had 
mourned over not bearing pain well in my 
first illness, and so He gave me another op- 
portunity of learning the lesson by send- 
ing me another painful illness, instead of 
giving me up as a hopeless pupil. b. 



Hezekiah (Isa. xxxviii. 16) got a great 
deal farther. He said: "By these things 
men live, and in all these things is the 

1 "The Turned Lesson," Poems, p. 367. 



1 9° GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

life of my spirit." " These things " meant 
for him going down to the gates of the 
grave, and being well-nigh cut off with 
pining sickness. Yet that which was 
almost death to the body was life to the 
spirit. Have not some of us found it 
50 ? k. 

The opened and watching eye will see 
that the whole day is one sweet story of 
marvellous help. And perhaps the great- 
est marvel will be, that He has helped us 
to see His help after very much practical 
blindness to it. f 

With regard to many of the promises, 
there seems no room for even the exer- 
cise of faith. It is not that I believe or 
grasp them, but that I find them all come 
true as I never did before. The sense of 
His unutterable loving-kindness to me is 
simply overwhelming. 

The Blessed Spirit is promised most 
simply and unconditionally " to them that 
ask Him." This promise says nothing 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 191 

even about desiring or thirsting; it pre* 
mises absolutely nothing, but comes to 
the lowest depths of sin-paralyzed will — 
it is only and simply, "Ask" e. 



We can only shine as lights in the 
world by bearing the Light of the World 
within us. g. 

It is the great magnet of His love which 
alone can draw any heart to Him; but 
when our own are thoroughly yielded to 
its mighty influence, they will be so mag- 
netized that He will condescend to use 
them in this way. c. 



The passage you mention presents no 
difficulty at all. Philippians ii. 12, 13 
seems to me clearly to imply that those 
to whom St. Paul wrote had got salvation 
as an actual possession, "your ozvn" ; and, 
having got it, they are now to "work it 
out," i.e. to carry out all the details and 
consequences of it, act up to it. Give a 



I9 2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

man a great gold mine; it is his, he has 
not got to work for it (it is all there, his 
very own), but only to work it out, draw 
upon it, and enjoy it. I think the figure 
holds good, for enjoyment seems to hold 
an almost invariable proportion to work 
for Christ. b. 

If we do not want to " speak of Him," 
let us beware of plausibly persuading our- 
selves that it is because we do not want 
to speak about ourselves. Let us be 
honest, and own that the vessel does not 
overflow because it is not very full of faith 
and love. <r 

I want to hand over to you my own 
last crumb from the King's table,— only 
it is more than a crumb. " Beloved of 
God, called to be saints." All that for 
you and me ! " Greatly beloved," for of 
course God cannot love just a little ! b. 



You may feel a little overlooked some- 
times now; only one among so very many. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 193 

and perhaps not first nor even second in 
anybody's love, or care, or interest, but 
He is watching His " least grains" all the 
time. A flock of sheep look most unin- 
terestingly alike and hopelessly undistin- 
guishable to us, but a good shepherd 
knows every one quite well. f. 



Somebody wrote to me about resigna- 
tion the other day ; but I don't feel as if 
the word suited at all ; there is an under- 
tone of "feeling it rather hard neverthe- 
less " in it, of submitting to a will which 
is different from one's own. He has 
granted me fully to rejoice in His will, I 
am not conscious of even a wish crossing 
it ; I do really and altogether desire that 
His will may be done, whatever it is. b. 



Just before this last attack I was in my 
sister's conservatory watching the gar- 
dener cut off every bunch he could find 
upon a splendid vine. He has been train- 
ing it for twelve years, never let it bear 



194 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

even one bunch of fruit for two years, 
and now it is two hundred feet long in 
the main stem alone, and four hundred 
feet with the principal branches. He has 
pruned off a thousand bunches this spring. 
"And what do you expect it to bear, 
by and by?" " Four hundredweight of 
grapes ! and, please God I live to manage 
it, it will be the finest vine in the county." 
He was having long patience for fourteen 
years with this choice vine, and I suppose 
my Husbandman's waiting with me won't 
be as many months, so that is not a very 
long trial of trust. b. 



" Speak;" don't hint and beat about the 
bush. When the arrow is feathered with 
love and weighted with wisdom, it must 
fly straight. g. 

The servant who was sent at first only 
to say " Come" to the hidden guests, was 
next sent to bring them in from a widei 
range, and then to "compel them to come 
in " from a wider still. e. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, 195 

It is not always very easy to say it, 
You little know how much it sometimes 
costs us ! You do not know that though 
the few words seem so easily spoken, and 
you take them as a matter of course from 
us, because you know we are of " that 
way" of thinking, they may have cost 
us not a little wrestling with God for 
faith and courage to utter them, and an 
effort which will leave us weary and 
exhausted. e. 



He will put forth His own sheep at 
last into the path which none of them 
shall ever tread alone, because He trod 
it alone. f. 

He has gone before, in front of, the 
great army of the living God who have 
crossed or have yet to cross the river of 
death. His blessed feet have passed that 
river, and made the crossing easy for us, 
so that the dark waters shall never over- 
flow one of us, not even a little child, h. 



196 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

I do not understand where faith ends 
and sight begins, because some of it is 
more like sight than faith. It does not 
seem as if the Lord exercises my faith at 
all. He just gives me everything, as I 
look up for it. I did not know there 
could be such a life on earth ! b. 



Have you ever been in Switzerland ? If 
so, I can best describe it to you thus; Be- 
fore, I was walking along the valleys and 
looking up at the grand, clear snow- 
heights; in the glorious land, and not 
doubting that I was in it, and very glad 
for the entrancing views, and getting wafts 
of the sweet mountain air, but still walk- 
ing in the valley, along a beaten, hard, 
dusty road, without elasticity or exhilara- 
tion, and becoming very tired with the 
heat and the knapsack ! Now, it is as if 
I had been suddenly caught up and my 
feet set upon the "high places" — (do you 
know that indescribable Alpine exhilara- 
tion?) — where one can go miles without 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 197 

fatigue, springing over boulders and tor- 
rents as if one were winged; drinking in 
air that is life and strength; looking out 
over wide prospects of all that is beauti- 
ful; seeing the true height of the pure 
summits as one never sees it from below; 
and even treading the sparkling, spotless 
snow itself, where not a speck of dust ever 
rested. And, if I add, all this at sunrise 
(not at sunset), I have told you as much 
as words can tell; for I know nothing of 
earthly beauty and enjoyment beyond my 
Alpine experiences. b. 



I Chron. iv. 23. Anywhere and every- 
where we may dwell " with the King for 
His work." We may be in a very unlikely 
or unfavorable place for this, — it may be 
in a literal country life, with little enough 
to be seen of the "goings" of the King 
around us; it maybe among hedges of all 
sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may 
be, furthermore, with our hands full of all 
manner of pottery for our daily task. No 



198 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

matter! The King who placed us " there" 
will come and dwell there with us; the 
hedges are all right, or He would soon do 
away with them, and it does not follow 
that what seems to hinder our way may 
not be for its very protection; and as for 
the pottery, why, that is just exactly what 
He has seen fit to put into our hands, and 
therefore it is, for the present, " His 
work." d. 

I never saw such tremendous force in 
I Peter ii. 24 (" in His own body ") as when 
suffering great pain myself; it seemed a 
new page of His love unfolded to me. I 
could write sheets more on the blessed 
teachings of pain, but if I did I should 
perhaps bring it on ! b. 



Beside the great privilege of carrying wa- 
ter from the wells of salvation, there are 
plenty of cups of cold water to be carried 
in all directions; not to the poor only, — 
ministries of love are often as much needed 
by a rich friend. But the feet must be 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 199 

kept for these; they will be too tired for 
them if they are tired out for self-pleas- 
ing. c. 

More pain, dearest mother ? May it be 
more support, more grace, more tender- 
ness, from the God of all comfort, more 
and more ! May we not expect the 
" mores " always to be in tender propor- 
tion to each other ? b. 



Merely to be "in peace" is not the end 
and aim of deliverance. If we are truly 
delivered, the Deliverer will soon be more 
to us than even the deliverance, and the 
gratitude and love will seek expression in 
obedience. Soldiers are ready to follow 
the captain who has won the victory any- 
where and everywhere; they will not want 
to be in any other service, least of all in 
that of his foe. g. 



This redemption to Himself necessarily 
involved separation "from Egypt, from 
the nations and their gods." We cannot 



200 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

have the "to" without the "from," any 
more than we could go to the equator 
and not come away from the arctic re- 
gion- /. 

From death— cold, dark, hopeless, use- 
less, loveless; the death in trespasses and 
sin; the death that lives (strange para- 
dox) for ever in the lake of fire— unto life 
with its ever-increasing abundance; — life 
crowned with light and love; life upon 
which only a shadow of death can ever 
pass, and that only the shadow of the 
portal of eternal glory; life in Jesus, life 
for Jesus, life with Jesus. /. 



One hardly likes to speak of it as com- 
pensation, because the " unto " is so infin- 
itely more than the "from"; it is like 
talking of a royal friendship compensa- 
ting for dropping a beggar's acquaintance, 
or the whole Bank of England for a brass 
farthing, or palace life for "giving up ' 
workhouse life ! g 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 201 

Any one who has not been there, will 
hardly understand the fact that, with this 
indescribably splendid mountain view, one 
is really distracted from it at almost every 
step by the flowers. No description can 
exaggerate these, either as to variety, 
loveliness, brilliance of color, or number. 
The whole place is one mass of flowers, 
thicker than ever you saw the thickest 
daisy or buttercup field of monotonous 
yellow or white. Here and there, in 
patches, some special flower predomi- 
nates, but generally all are mixed up 
together, perhaps twenty species in a 
square yard, and most of the colors in- 
tensely brilliant. I think we must have 
gone at the right time exactly, for I do 
not remember quite such splendor in 1869. 
Chief of all for attraction are the forget- 
me-nots, much brighter and larger than 
the English ones, whole spikes of living 
turquoise waving by myriads; then gen- 
tians and pansies, and large exquisite 
primrose-colored anemones, and smaller 
white ones, and pink primula-like clus- 



202 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

ters, and purple bells most delicately 
fringed, and intense blue starflowers with 
a clear white eye, called " heaven flowers," 
and dozens of others. I brought in a nose- 
gay which Mr. S. said was fit for a queen, 
only a queen could not purchase such a 
one unless she came to Murren to get it; 
for they always fade long before we can 
get down to the valley again. However, 
even below there is a wealth of flowers 
which one never sees in England, only 
just a little commoner than this lovely 
aristocracy of flowers up above, so deli- 
cate and noble. It is worth any one's 
while to go early to Switzerland to see 
them; no one would believe it who only 
goes in July and August. a . 



There is no shining with borrowed oil. 
But there shall be oil for oil. See 2 
Kings iv. 2, 6. / 



11 To every man his work; " and in that, 
even if it is only running little errands for 



FRANCES RIDLE V HA VERGAL. 203 

the skilled workmen, we may excel to the 
edifying of the Church. g. 



"I have given them Thy word ": John 
xvii. 14. To me this has been a golden key 
to many other texts, or a sort of seal upon 
them; the Father's word and the Saviour's 
gift. Apply this first to the "word of 
reconciliation, " the Father's message of 
salvation through Christ. Then to the 
whole Bible; it makes it ten times dearer, 
and it seems our claim to appropriate every 
sweet promise. k. 



Unclaimed promises are like uncashed 
checks; they will keep us from bankruptcy, 
but not from want. c. 



We do not realize the importance of 
moments. Only let us consider those two 
sayings of God about them, " In a mo- 
ment shall they die," and, "We shall all 
be changed in a moment," and we shall 
think less lightly of them. Eternal issues 



204 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

may hang upon any one of them, but it 
has come and gone before we can even 
think about it. Nothing seems less with- 
in the possibility of our own keeping, 
yet nothing is more inclusive of all other 
keeping. Therefore let us ask Him to 
keep them for us. c. 



The dwelling and the working must go 
together. If we are indeed dwelling with 
the King, we shall be working for Him, 
too, " as we have opportunity." The work- 
ing will be as the dwelling, — a settled, reg- 
ular thing, whatever form it may take at 
His appointment. Nor will His work ever 
be done when we are not dwelling with 
Him. It will be our own work then, not 
His, and it will not " abide." d. 



There is always a danger that just be- 
cause we say " all," we may practically fall 
shorter than if we had only said "some," 
but said it very definitely. God recognizes 
this, and provides against it in many de- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 205 

partments. For instance, though our time 
is to be "all" for Him, yet He solemnly 
sets apart the one day in seven which is,, 
to be specially for Him. Those who think 
they know better than God, and profess 
that every day is a Sabbath, little know 
what flood-gates of temptation they are 
opening by being so very wise above what 
is written. c. 

I do so feel that every hour is distinctly 
and definitely guided by Him. I have 
taken Him at His word in everything, and 
He takes me at my word in everything. 
.... "I am persuaded that He is able to 
keep that which I have committed unto 
Him": so, having entrusted my very trust 
to Him, I look forward ever so happily to 
the future (//there be yet much of earthly 
future for me) as " one vista of brightness 
and blessedness." b. 



Some of the fruits of the Spirit seem to 
be especially and peculiarly characteristic 
of sanctified older years; and do we not 



206 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

want to bring them all forth ? Look at 
the splendid ripeness of Abraham's faith 
in his old age; the grandeur of Moses' 
meekness, when he went up the mountain 
alone to die; the mellowness of St. Paul's 
joy in his later epistles; and the wonder- 
ful gentleness of St. John, which makes 
us almost forget his early character of "a 
son of thunder," wanting to call down 
God's lightnings of wrath. And " the 
same Spirit " is given to us, that we too 
may bring forth " fruit that may abound," 
and always " more fruit." f m 



Because our influence is to such a great 
extent involuntary and unconscious, we 
may rest assured that if we ourselves are 
truly kept for Jesus, this will be, as a quite 
natural result, kept for Him also. It can- 
not be otherwise, for as is the fountain, 
so will be the flow; as the spring, so the 
action; as the impulse, so the communi- 
cated motion. Thus there may be, and 
in simple trust there will be, a quiet rest 



FRANCES RIDLEY &AVERGAL. 207 

about it, a relief from all sense of strain 
and effort, a fulfilling of the words, " For 
he that is entered into his rest, he also 
hath ceased from his own works, as God 
did from His." It will not be a matter 
of trying to have good influence, but just 
of having it, as naturally and constantly 
as the magnetized bar. c. 



How all our work might have been in 
itself distressing and painful ! It seems 
a new subject of thanksgiving — so good 
of Him to make us like the work He 
assigns us. k. 

It often strikes me as one of the won- 
derful wheels of God's providence that 
He lays different parts of His work on 
different hearts, brings one nearer to the 
focus of one worker's vision and another 
to another, and thus all the different things 
get taken up. b. 

I must pass on to you what I have been 
rejoicing in all this week, Exodus xxi. 5 



208 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

" I love my Master, I will not go out 
free " ; and then connect the end of verse 
6 with Revelation xxii. 3, " shall serve 
Him " for ever. I can't imagine why I 
never exulted in that declaration before, 
"I love my Master!" 1 b. 



" And he shall serve Him for ever." — 
Exodus xxi. 6. A promise only differ- 
enced from a threat by one thing, love ! 
But that makes all the difference. f. 



Let us not be content with vaguely 
praying, "Lord, what wilt Thou have 
me to do?" but set to work to see what 
He has already said we are to do, and 
then, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do 

g* 

I like intellects to rub against, and have 
no present access to books which would 
do it; so I bethought myself of seeing 
what Shakespeare would do for me, and 

1 Poems, p. 273. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 209 

I think my motive was really that I might 
polish my own instruments for the Mas- 
ter's use. But there is so much that is 
entirely of the earth earthy, amid all the 
marvellous genius and even the sparkles 
of the highest truth which flash here and 
there, so much that jars upon one's spirit, 
so much that is downward instead of up- 
ward, that it has crossed me whether I 
am not trusting an arm of flesh in seeking 
intellectual benefit thus. 

Yet on the other hand, if one admits 
the principle, one would throw over all 
means as to study and mental culture, 
and it does really seem as a rule as if 
God endorsed those means, and uses cul- 
tivated powers, and only very exception- 
ally uses the uncultured ones. b. 



The heart that is not entrusted to Him 
for searching, will not be undertaken by 
Him for cleansing; the life that fears tc 
come to the light lest any deed should 
be reproved, can never know the blessed- 



2io GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

ness and the privileges of walking in the 
light. ■ Ca 

Experience does not run on rails laid 
regularly down, and readers do not al- 
ways go hand in hand and heart to heart 
With the writer. e% 



Thank God that He does not let His 
children go on comfortably when they 
wander and fall ! g % 



What thousands have blessed Him for 
the pain that came like a rough hand 
catching them as they fell over a preci- 
pice, hurting and pinching their very flesh, 
but saving their lives ! b. 



I am not ill, but overdone and tired. 
A nice letter even to you is an impossi- 
bility. This has been trial, but as yet 
I see no " nevertheless afterwards." I 
have been falling back on " O Lord. 
Thou knowest." b. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 211 

Is it not comfort already, just to know 
that He knows ? And is it not enough 
that He knows ? Why, you know that 
He can do everything; so, surely, He can 
make things come right for you (really 
right, not perhaps what you fancy would 
be nicest and most right). And you know 
that He careth (that is, goes on caring) 
for you; so, if He knows about your trou- 
ble, He cares about it too. And he not 
only cares, but loves, so that He would 
not have let this trouble touch His dear 
child, — when He knew about it all the 
time, — but that He wanted it to be a lit- 
tle messenger to call you to Him to be 
comforted, and to show you that He is your 
best Friend, and to teach you the sweet- 
ness of saying, "Thou knowest !" h. 



I know something of the sweetness of 
taking pain direct from His hand. I had 
just been saying all this to the Lord, and 
then it came to me in this hymn; 1 it wants 

1 " A Song in the Night," Poems, p. 383. 



212 . GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

no correction; I always think God gives 
me verse when it comes so, and it is worth 
any suffering if what I write will comfort 
some one at some time! . . . Perhaps some 
will think it presumption in me to say, 

" For Thee my heart has never 
A trustless Nay ! " 

But it really is so, I could not look up 
in His face and say, "Nay, my Lord, I do 
not trust Thee in everything." k. 



Everybody is so sorry for me except 
myself! For the same peace which will 
be yours in work will be mine in waiting; 
and the very fact of having a busy and 
active nature, with no proclivity for dolce 
far niente, seems to make the rest under 
God's felt restraints so much the more 
really His doing. b. 



" The bow shall be seen in the cloud." 
So we'll look ! We only see what we look 
at! I. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, 213 

May it not be a comfort to those of us 
who feel we have not the mental or spir- 
itual power that others have, to notice 
that the living sacrifice mentioned in 
Rom. xii. 1 is our " bodies"? Of course 
that includes the mental power, but does 
it not also include the loving, sympa- 
thizing glance, the kind, encouraging 
word, the ready errand for another, the 
work of our hands, opportunities for all 
of which come oftener in the day than for 
the mental power we are often tempted 
to envy ? May we be enabled to offer 
willingly that which we have. For if 
there be first a willing mind, it is ac- 
cepted according to that a man hath, and 
not according to that he hath not. c. 



Yes, there are plenty of troubles, and 
delays, and failures, and headaches, and 
much weariness, too; I know all about 
that; but nevertheless, when His elect 
are truly doing His work, sowing His 
seed, and reaping His precious sheaves, 



214 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

they enjoy that work, as He says they 
shall. And they shall long enjoy it, too; 
other enjoyments pass away in passing, 
but this only passes on to eternal fruition 
of enjoyment. k. 



He says, " My servants shall sing for 
joy of heart. " But you cannot try over 
that song to see what it is like, you can- 
not even read one bar of it, till your nom- 
inal or even promised service is exchanged 
for real and undivided consecration. c. 



Even if the sun of our life has reached 
the apparent zenith, and we have known 
a very noonday of mental and spiritual 
being, it is no poetic "western shadows'' 
that are to lengthen upon our way, but 
" our age is to be clearer than the noon- 
day." How suggestive that word is ! 
The light, though intenser and nearer, 
shall dazzle less; " in Thy light shall we 
see light," be able to bear much more of 
it, see it more clearly, see all else by it 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 215 

more clearly, reflect it more clearly. We 
should have said, "At evening-time there 
shall be shadow;" God says, "At even- 
ing-time there shall be light." f. 



" Because of your unbelief." As God 
has appointed faith as the means and the 
measure of our reception of His promises, 
is it any wonder that, when we don't, and 
won't, and don't even want to, believe a 
given promise, we don't find it fulfilled ? 
k. 

Christ said to His Father, "Thou lovedst 
Me before the foundation of the world." 
At that mysterious date, not of time, but 
of everlasting love, God "chose us in 
Him." d. 

How strangely touching are the words, 
"What is man, that Thou shouldest set 
Thine heart upon him, and that Thou 
shouldest visit him every morning, and 
try him every moment?" Terribly solemn 
and awful would be the thought that He 



216 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

has been trying us every moment, were it 
not for the yearning gentleness and love 
of the Father revealed in that wonderful 
expression of wonder, " What is man, that 
Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon 
him ? " Think of that ceaseless setting 
of His heart upon us, careless and forget- 
ful children as we have been ! And then 
think of those other words, none the less 
literally true because given under a fig- 
ure: " I, the Lord, do keep it; I will wa- 
ter it every moment" c. 



In the train I had one of those curious 
musical visions, which very rarely visit me. 
I hear strange and very beautiful chords, 
generally full, slow and grand, succeeding 
each other in most interesting sequences. 
I do not invent them, I could not; they 
pass before my mind, and I only listen. 
Now and then my will seems aroused 
when I see ahead how some fine resolu- 
tion might follow, and I seem to ze/zY/that 
certain chords should come, and then thej 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 2 1 7 

do come; but then my will seems sus- 
pended again, and they go on quite in- 
dependently. It is so interesting, the 
chords seem to fold over each other and 
die away down into music of infinite soft- 
ness, and then they unfold and open out, 
as if great curtains were being withdrawn 
one after another, widening the view, till, 
with a gathering power and intensity and 
fulness, it seems as if the very skies were 
being opened out before me, and a sort 
of great blaze and glory of music, such as 
my outward ears never heard, gradually 
swells out in perfectly sublime splendor. 
This time there was an added feature: I 
seemed to hear depths and heights of 
sound beyond the scale which human ears 
can conceive, keen, far-up octaves, like 
vividly twinkling starlight of music, and 
mighty, slow vibrations of gigantic strings 
going down into grand thunders of depths, 
octaves below anything otherwise appre- 
ciable as musical notes. Then, all at 
once, it seemed as if my soul had got a 
new sense, and I could see this inner music 



218 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

as well as hear it; and then it was like 
gazing down into marvellous abysses oj 
sound, and up into dazzling regions of 
what, to the eye, would have been light 
and color, but to this new sense was 
sound. Wasn't it odd ! It lasted perhaps 
half an hour, but I don't know exactly, 
and it is very difficult to describe in 
words. a ^ 

A great many so-called " sacred songs" 
are so plaintive and pathetic that they 
help to give a gloomy idea of religion. 
Now don't sing these; come out boldly, 
and sing definitely and unmistakably for 
your King, and of your King, and to your 
King. You will soon find, and even out- 
siders will have to own, that it is a good 
thing thus to show forth His loving-kind- 
ness and His faithfulness (see Ps. xcii. 
J -3). c. 

Zech. vi. II : "Make crowns, and set 
them on the head of Joshua the high 
priest." Rev. xix. 12: "Many crowns." 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 219 

Is it not our privilege to have something 
to do with preparing the crowns, and the 
jewels in them? You see it is " make,' 5 
not merely "take." /. 



As we left Neuchatel we looked out for 
the possibility of a definite farewell to the 
Alps. What a strange, sad fascination 
there is about a last glimpse ! Above 
the hazy horizon were some little, pale 
whitenesses, was it to these that our 
good-by must be said ?...... So we 

watched on till they were lost: all silent. 
But is it not then that thoughts talk 
loudest ? 

Shall we ever see them again ? a. 



I feel as if I had got quite a fresh start 
with that month's rest; it seems as if na- 
ture had then walked into my brain and 
taken possession (turning me out mean- 
while), and given it a kind of spring clean- 
ing ! rubbing up the furniture, and fresh 
papering some of the rooms, and cleaning 



220 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the windows! That perpetual "moving 
on," which some so delight in, does not 
suit me nearly so well as staying in a 
place and taking it easy. b. 



Yes, it is true enough that we should 
show forth His praise not only with our 
lips, but in our lives; but with very many 
Christians the other side of the prayer 
wants praying— they want rousing up even 
to wish to show it forth not only in their 
lives but with their lips. I wonder how 
many, even of those who read this, really 
pray, "O Lord, open Thou my lips, 
and my mouth shall show forth Thy 
praise. " c 

How much are we going to eat to-day 
of that which is good, in proportion to 
that which satisfieth not ? Will it be a 
question of minutes for the word by which 
we live, and hours for books which are 
at best negative as to spiritual nutri- 
ment, ~ 



FRANCES RIDLEY HA V ERG A L. 221 

Wrong feeling is more infectious than 
wrong-doing; especially the various phases 
of ill-temper — gloominess, touchiness, dis- 
content, irritability, — do we not know how 
catching these are ? g. 



Judges viii. I. A lesson on touchiness! 
Pride is always at the bottom of it, envy 
and want of love come next in it, and ex- 
aggeration and anger often flow out of it. 
It is not an infirmity, but a great sin. 
Gal. v. 26. I Cor. xiii. 4, 5. Christ's true 
soldiers would be willing to be nothing and 
nowhere in the war, if so He orders. /. 



Before venturing away from your quiet 
early hour, " commit thy works " to Him 
definitely, the special things you have to 
do to-day, and the unforeseen work which 
He may add in the course of it ? 

And then, leave it with Him ! You 
would not have the bad taste to keep on 
fidgeting about it to the friend who had 
kindly undertaken your work for you ! If 



222 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

we would only apply the commonest rules 
of human courtesy and confidence to our 
intercourse with our Divine Master ! 
Leave details and results all and alto- 
gether with Him. g. 



So far, the whole question of pain is 
rather one of sight than of faith to me 
now; it has become so clear to me, as a 
part of God's great plan which could not 
be done without. But I find yet scope for 
faith beyond. I believe there is a mys- 
terious connection between suffering here 
and actual capabilities of enjoyment here- 
after, and that suffering here is training 
(I cannot tell how) for that glorious ser- 
vice above, to which I delight to look 
forward. b. 

You thought I used a great many texts 
in my Bible notes, but it is my way of 
work. I very seldom run on a dozen lines 
in any book without embodying a text. 
I don't see how one can put too large a 
proportion of God's own words among- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 223 

our own. He never said our words should 
not return void. Besides, I have got into 
the way of it. I don't want to be a spider 
spinning out of myself. b. 



Intercession should be definite and de- 
tailed. Vagueness is lifelessness. St. Paul 
besought the Romans to pray for him, and 
then told them exactly what he wanted, 
four definite petitions to be presented for 
him. It is a help to reality of intercession 
when ministers or other workers who ask 
our prayers will tell us exactly what they 
want. General prayers for ''blessing" are 
apt to become formal. g. 



When there is no one to wait and be 
anxious for you, and no one to arrange 
for but your two selves, and no fixed plan 
beyond to-day, and that day and all its 
hours committed to a Father's guidance,, 
disappointment becomes almost impos- 
sible, and the crossing of one's intentions 
constantly results in most evident guiding 



224 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

to something better. So it was with our 
detention at Belfort, which was no part 
of our own programme. 

We set off through the town to the 
fortifications. " Why should we not begin 
at once ? " said my friend, E. Clay. So, 
setting the example, she began offering 
French tracts and " portions" to almost 
every one we met. And a wonderful two 
or three hours we had ! Such eagerness 
for the little books, such gratitude, such 
attentive listening as we tried to speak 
of Jesus, such tears as we touched the 
chord of suffering, still vibrating among 
these poor people, to whom war had been 
an awful reality ! Surely God sent us ! 
Not one to whom we spoke but told us of 
husbands, sons or brothers fallen in the 
siege or elsewhere; or else of terrible 
losses and poverty. Some to whom we 
gave tracts went away reading, and soon 
came back begging for another, " pour 
ma mere," " pour un ami." We went into 
a large room, where several wounded 
soldiers lay, while women sat at work- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 225 

here again all was earnest attention and 
gratitude. * i Merci infiniment, infiniment ! " 
said one poor fellow. 

At last we made our way up to the 
fortifications, where probably none but 
"unprotected females" would have been 
allowed ! Our pctits livres secured us the 
respect of the few soldiers and many work- 
men. We realized a little of what war 
means, as we wandered about the half- 
ruined stronghold, and looked down upon 
a church with scarcely a square yard of 
roof intact, and houses in every stage of 
shatter and desolation, or, at best, poorly 
patched up for bare shelter. a. 



What if but one of the words spoken 
or books given during a whole tour should 
be blessed ! Would it not be worth all 
the effort, and the screwing up of courage, 
and the battles with shyness and nervous- 
ness and reluctance, which have to be 
fought again and again ? a 



226 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

If there is not great reward, it only 
shows that there is not real keeping. 
The essence of true keeping of God's 
commandments is love. (See how many 
times keep and love are joined together in 
all parts of His word). Now, if we have 
only been obeying in mere form and let- 
ter, because we were afraid to disobey, 
this is not the heart-obedience which is 
always crowned with blessing. g. 



Whether you have much or little 
natural voice, there is reason for its culti- 
vation and room for its use. Place it at 
your Lord's disposal, and He will show you 
how to make the most of it for Him; for 
not seldom His multiplying power is 
brought to bear on a consecrated voice. 
A puzzled singing master, very famous in 
his profession, said to one who tried to 
sing for Jesus, "Well, you have not 
much voice; but, mark my words, you will 
always beat anybody with four times your 
voice !" He was right, though he did not 
in the least know why. c. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 227 

I am quite sure that with very, very rare 
exceptions bodily pain, though far more 
trying to witness, is not anything to com- 
pare with mental pain, and it leaves no 
sting or scar, as almost every other form 
of real trial must do. b. 



I have been immensely struck with the 
passages in which our Master, our Exam- 
pie, uses the word "must" and the great 
contrast with our use of it. Only com- 
pare when any one says " but I must do 
so and so," with Christ's "I fftusfs." It is 
a really helpful bit of Bible search, for we 
must follow Him in this or we are "not 
worthy of Him." b. 



"Seek that ye may excel." We are too 
apt to think that He has given us certain 
natural gifts, but has nothing practically 
to do with the improvement of them, and 
leaves us to ourselves for that. Why not 
ask Him to make these hands of ours more 
handy for His service, more skilful in what 



228 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

is indicated as the "next thynge" they 
are to do ? The " kept" hands need not 
be clumsy hands. If the Lord taught 
David's hands to war and his fingers to 
fight, will He not teach our hands, and 
fingers too, to do what He would have 
them do ? c. 

There is real comfort in knowing that 
every imagination of the thoughts of the 
natural heart is only evil continually, be- 
cause this shows how really He is working 
in us when we find Him putting and keep- 
ing holy things in our minds. f. 



But remember, there is no such thing 
as drifting into this covenant. We shall 
never "happen" to find ourselves included 
in it by waiting to see what turns up, or 
by dint of admiringly contemplating it. 

e. 

Lev. iii. 2 Personal interest in the 

peace-offering — "For He is our peace." 
• . . . "Therefore being justified by faith 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 229 

{i. e., laying the hand on our peace-offer- 
ing), we have peace with God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." Touching sin 
conveys sin; touching the Sinless One 
conveys peace and purity. /. 



" For the transgression of my people 
was the stroke upon Him" {mar gin) \ 
therefore not upon us, never upon us. 
The lightning that strikes the conduct- 
or instead of the building to which it is 
joined, has spent its fiery force and strikes 
no more. d. 

" IT IS FINISHED ! " What is finished ? 
" I have finished the work that Thou gav- 
est me to do." And what is that work ? 

Simply the work of our salvation 

When a thing is finished, how much is 
there left to do ? The question sounds 
too absurd with respect to ordinary things. 
We hardly take the trouble to answer, 
" Why, nothing, of course ! " When Je- 
sus has finished the work, how much is 



230 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

there left for you to do ? Do you not see ? 
Nothing, of course ! You have only to 
accept that work as really finished, and 
accept His dying declaration that it is so. 

e. 

When we know that this sun is shining 
in the heaven of heavens, should we be 
watching every flicker of our little farthing 
candle of faith ? f. 



Don't you see He has broken the yoke 
(Isa. x. 27), only you keep rubbing the 
place where it pressed, and are feeling 
stiff! When splints are taken off a broken 
leg, you feel as if they were still on. " Be- 
lieve, and ye shall be free indeed. " b. 



"Lord, to whom shall we go?" Not 
" to what shall we go." For the human 
heart within us craves a personal, living 
rest and refuge. No doctrines, however 
true; no systems, however perfect; noth- 
ing mental, moral, or spiritual, will do as 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 231 

the answer to this question of every soul 
that is not absolutely dead in trespasses 
and sins. As surely as you and I are per- 
sons, individualities, real separate exist- 
ences, so surely must we have a Person, 
no less real and individual, to whom to 
go in more or less conscious need of sal- 
vation, e. 

Do not hesitate to smite me. I dread 
nothing so much as smooth things. I 
would rather have "faithful wounds." b. 



I don't feel cured, but I believe He has 
taken me into His hands afresh. No, it 
has not been all for Him of late; I don't 
mean anything definite, but breaches in 
the enclosure, made not by any outward 
foe or even "the religious world," but by 
self, which I wanted to be crushed out of 
me, that He might take its place wholly. 
I think that has been the "something 
between," and it has dimmed not only 
the inner brightness, but the free-hearted 



232 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

testimony. It is so utterly horrid not to 
have been all for Him. h. 



What if He had ever "dealt with us 
after our sins!" But He never did, and 
never will. He hath dealt gently, and 
will deal gently with us, for His own 
sake, and according to His own heart, 
from the first drawings of His loving- 
kindness, on throughout the measureless 
developments of His everlasting love. 
Not till we are in heaven shall we know 
the full meaning of " Thy gentleness hath 
made me great." d. 



Perhaps you will not know at first when 
the answer comes. Can you see the dew 
fall ? No one ever saw a single drop 
come down, and yet as soon as the sun 
rises, you see that it has come, and is 
sparkling all over the fields. It came 
long before you saw it, falling sweetly 
and silently in the twilight and in the 
dark. So do not fancy God is not hear- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 233 

ing you because you have not felt any- 
thing very sudden and wonderful. He is 
hearing and answering all the time. You 
would not go on asking unless the dew 
of His Spirit were already falling upon 
your heart, and teaching you to pray. c. 



Yes, I " could not read His prescrip- 
tion, " but I can now take it without trying 
to spell it. I see that my growth in grace 
is His affair, and that He is certainly tak- 
ing care of it, even though I don't see 
it. * 6. 

Consulting Christian friends, and read- 
ing good books, and doing any amount 
of religious duties, and exercising any 
amount of self-denial, will not stay the 
more or less conscious heart-thirst. The 
Lord says not a word about any channels; 
He only says, " If any man thirst, let him 
come unto Me, and drink." g. 



The Lord Jesus says it is wine which 



234 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

He has mingled. Not all one kind, but 
mingled by Divine care and skill into a 
perfect draught of manifold gladness. " If 
they obey and serve Him, they shall spend 
their days in prosperity, and their years 
in pleasures." That is the heritage of the 
servants of the Lord ! e. 



I am so interested in my Bible class! I 
have just been telling one of them I don't 
wish to lead them a nice interesting walk 
all round the walls of the city of refuge, 
and get them to think what a charming 
place it is; I want to give them a good 
hard push inside. b. 



It is no light thing to put away a holy 
desire, however feeble; because it sprang 
not from your own heart, but is the voice 
of the Spirit saying, Come ! It will not 
always speak, if not obeyed. Turn back 
from Revelation to Genesis, and you find 
the shadow of the bright light of the win- 
ning call in the unchanged warning note: 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 235 

" My Spirit shall not always strive with 
man." e. 

So large a proportion of our influence is 
entirely involuntary, while yet the respon- 
sibility of it is so enormous, that our help- 
lessness comes out in exceptionally strong 
relief, while our past debt in this matter 
is simply incalculable. Are we feeling this 
a little ? getting just a glimpse, down the 
misty defiles of memory, of the neutral in- 
fluence, the wasted influence, the mistaken 
influence, the actually wrong influence 
which has marked the ineffaceable al- 
though untraceable course ? And all the 
while we owed Him all that influence ! 
It ought to have been all for Him ! We 
have nothing to say. But what has our 
Lord to say? " I forgave thee all that 
debt ! " c. 

Many hold back from what they call 
" talking about religion," under color that 
they fear it too often leads to talking 
about self. And yet, what about the gQii- 



236 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

eral conversation which is about " other 
things," not " the things which are Jesus 
Christ's"? Are the " other things "free 
from self, and wholly profitable ? g. 



I never knew any idle Christian really 
a rejoicing one (I do not of course speak 
of invalids); and, conversely, if you see 
men or women, whatever their position, 
doing all they can for the cause of Christ 
giving up time to work for Him, and try- 
ing hard to win others, either rich or poor, 
for Him, you may be almost certain that 
they are happy in Christ. (Mark, I do 
not say those who merely ride religious or 
benevolent hobbies, or who work for ex- 
ternals of religion, these are often as mis- 
erable as any; but those who are working 
for Christ?) b. 

In things spiritual, the greater does not 
always include the less, but, paradoxically 
the less more often includes the greater. 
So time is entrusted to us to be traded with 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 237 

for our Lord. But we cannot grasp it as 
a whole. We instinctively break it up ere 
we can deal with it for any purpose. So 
when a new year comes round, we commit 
it with special earnestness to the Lord. 
But as we do so, are we not conscious of 
a feeling that even a year is too much for 

us to deal with ? So we find the 

need of considering our lives as a matter 
of day by day. c. 

I hardly know how it began, I think 

from my own couplet " let me sing, 

Always, only, for my King," .... some- 
how I felt that on both sides, singer and 
listeners, it was not really " only for Him," 
but too much of F. R. H. That word 
"only" seemed to be pressed on my own 
heart. I saw it as I never saw it before, 
and that the "all for Jesus" must be sup- 
plemented and sealed with "only for Je- 
sus." It was a great and humbling rev- 
elation to me of failure in full consecration 
where I really did not see it before; and 
of course I dare not and would not hold 



238 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

back from accepting and following, at any 
cost, what I felt God's Holy Spirit was 
teaching me. b. 



If you remember me in prayer, will you 
ask that I may be kept always and only 
at Jesus' feet, never anywhere else. It is 
the only place safe from vain glory. b. 



The magnificent massive choruses in 
the "Israel in Egypt" need a gigantic 
orchestra to give scope for their great 
swing of grandeur. The mighty flinging 
of sound from side to side, in some of the 
double choruses, is v/hat might be carried 
out if Handel had Salisbury Plain for his 
concert room, cannon for his basses, an 
army for his tenors, and angelic legions 
for his sopranos. k. 



Do you ever have time to pray for other 
people's work, now that you have so much 
before you ? Because, if so, will you ask 
that He would give me special help in a 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 239 

little book which I want to write, as He 
may give me strength ? The title will be 
simply, "My King." . . . 

It is such a delicious subject, and I have 
so enjoyed the mere looking out of the 
texts about it, while not yet strong enough 
for serious writing; but I am not sufficient 
for these things, and never felt more deeply 
my own insufficiency. Only the idea of 
the book came so very forcibly to my mind 
that I could not but think He had sent it 
me. a. 

The ground of St. Paul's belief was not 
something, but Some One. Simply, "I 
believe God" ! An earnest worker said 
the other day, " Oh, I am so glad it does 
not say, ' I know what I have believed,' 
but, 'I know whom I have believed.'" g. 



Which is greatest, gifts or grace ? Gifts 
are given " to every man according to his 
several ability." That is, we have just as 
much given as God knows we are able to 
use, and what He knows we can best use 



240 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

for Him. " But unto every one of us is 
given grace according to the measure of 
the gift of Christ." Claiming and using 
that royal measure of grace, you may, 
and can, and will do more for God than 
the mightiest intellect in the world with- 
out it. c. 

Who knows how much of the weakness 
of hands, which distresses or even annoys 
us, may be laid at our door because we 
talked about it instead of praying about 
it ? g. 

Even if we have gone so far as to say 
"Take my moments," have we gone the 
step farther, and really let Him take them 
— really entrusted them to Him ? It is 
no good saying "take," when we do not 
let go. . . We are like little children clos- 
ing our fingers over diamonds. How can 
they receive and reflect the rays of light, 
analyzing them into all the splendor of 
their prismatic beauty, while they are kept 
shut up tight in the dirty little hands : 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 241 

Give them up; let our Father hold them 
for us, and throw His own great light upon 
them, and then we shall see them full of 
fair colors of His manifold loving-kind- 
nesses; and let Him always keep them 
for us, and then we shall always see His 
light and His love reflected in them. c. 



"The King only" For the sorrow of 
our King is shared with His people; but 
in the smiting we have no part. We can 
only stand "afar off," bowed and hushed 
in shuddering love, as the echoes of the 
awful stripes that fell on Him float down 
through the listening centuries, while each 
throb of the healed heart replies, " For 
me ! for me ! " d. 



"Thou holdest mine eyes waking." — If 
we could always say, night after night, "I 
will both lay me down in peace and sleep," 
receiving in full measure the Lord's quiet 
gift to His beloved, we should not learn 



242 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

the disguised sweetness of this special 
word for the wakeful ones. When the 
wearisome nights come, it is hushing to 
know that they are appointed. . . . 

Ah! but we say "I really want 

sleep." Well ; wanting it is one thing, 
and needing it is another. For He is 
pledged to supply "all our need, not all 
our notions.'" And if He holds our eyes 
waking, we may rest assured that, so long 
as He does so, it is not sleep but wakeful- 
ness that is our true need. f. 



One evening (after a relapse), I longed 
so much to be able to pray, but found I 
was too weak for the least effort of 
thought, and I only looked up and said, 
" Lord Jesus, I am so tired ! " And then 
He brought to my mind " rest in the 
Lord," with its lovely marginal reading, 
" be silent to the Lord," and so I just was 
silent to Him, and He seemed to overflow 
me with perfect peace, in the sense of His 
own perfect love. b. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 243 

Is it not senseless, when one comes to 
think of it, let alone wrong, to fidget and 
worry about any one thing at all, when 
He says His covenant is ordered in all 
things and sure, and that all things are 
for your sakes ? We do specially want to 
remember here that all things means all 
things, because when the things present 
are sorrowful, and faith-testing, and pain- 
ful, and perplexing, we begin again with 
that dreadful word " except." k. 



Pain drives one to Him each moment, 
one cannot bear it even one minute alone, 
one must lean and cling (and anything is 
blessed which does this!). And then, 
one finds that He is tender and gracious, 
that His promises are precious, that His 
presence IS a REALITY even if unrealized ! 
(a true paradox !) b. 



His will is not, as we are tempted prac- 
tically to think, something quite separate 
and apart from Himself, so that we may 



244 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

think Him gracious, and yet think His 
will rather stern ; or so that we may love 
Him, and yet very much dislike His will. 
His will is the very essence of Himself 
going forth in force ; it is the primary 
difference between what we know of 
Jehovah and what the Hindoo imagines 
of Brahma. g. 

When we have asked Him to take, and 
continually trust Him to keep, our money, 
" shopping" becomes a different thing. 
We look up to our Lord for guidance to 
lay out His money prudently and rightly, 
and as He would have us lay it out. The 
gift or garment is selected consciously 
under His eye, and with conscious refer- 
ence to Him as our own dear Master, for 
whose sake we shall give it, or in whose 
service we shall wear it, and whose own 
silver or gold we shall pay for it, and then 
it is all right. c. 

Very often, the very recoil from an 
error lands us in an opposite one; be- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 245 

cause others, or we ourselves, have gone 
too far in one direction, we thenceforth 
do not go far enough, or vice versa: ex- 
cess re-acting in defect, and defect in 
excess ; a received truth overshadowing 
its equally valuable complementary one ; 
the fear of overstepping the boundary line 
of the narrow track of truth and right, on 
the one side, leading us unconsciously to 
overstep it on the other side. But the 
promise which we should claim is, that 
the Holy Spirit would guide us into all 
truth " on every side" g. 



Sanctification is the continual fulfilling 
of the good pleasure of His goodness in 
us. g. 

" I have to go and buy some soap," 
said one with a little sigh. The sigh was 
waste of breath, for her feet were going to 
do her Lord's will for that next half-hour 
much more truly than if they had carried 
her to her well-worked district, and left 
the soap to take its chance. c. 



246 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Love is the link between the remem- 
brance and the anticipation ; for the tvvc 
melt into each other, and form one hal- 
lowed radiance of present great delight. 
" For as often as ye eat this bread, and 
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's 
death till He cotne" So perhaps some 
will be showing it forth at the very mo- 
ment when He comes ! What a transi- 
tion of unimaginable blessedness ! It is 
almost too dazzlingly beautiful to think 
of- g. 

When we come back from the battle- 
field, weary yet victorious, we may look 
for our King of Peace coming to meet us 
with bread and wine and His own priestly 
blessing, that we may be strengthened 
and refreshed by Himself. d. 



Oh, I am so glad that "alway" (Matt, 
xxviii. 20) means always, and that <4 nev- 
er" (Heb. xiii. 5) means not ever and not 
"only sometimes," which is really about 
as much as I used practically to take the 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 247 

words for! But the "alway" and the 
" never" are always now for us, and I be- 
lieve them now just as they stand. And 
so, whether the day is dull or bright, and 
whether my eyes are heavy or clear, I 
know Jesus is with me. b. 



"I am" is neither "I was" nor "I will 
be." It is always abreast of our lives, al- 
ways encompassing us with salvation. It 
is a splendid perpetual "Now" It always 
means " I am with you now" or it would 
cease to be " I am " and " alway." f. 



I have not a fear or a flutter, not a care 
or anxiety, for time or eternity; and I 
know this is not nature, for the natural 
thing to me would be to fidget as to both 
present and prospective health, neither 
being very cheering. b. 



There need be no difficulty in distin- 
guishing between the holy and blessed 



248 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

"fear of the Lord," which is our " treas- 
ure," and which is only as the sacred 
shadow cast by the brightest light of love 
and joy, and the fear which " hath tor- 
ment," and is cast out by perfect love and 
simple trust. g. 

Little backs cannot bear great burdens, 
but sometimes those who have great bur- 
dens have little ones too, and it makes 
such a difference if some loving little 
hand will take one or two of these. If 
your mother was carrying a great heavy 
parcel, would it not help her if you took 
two or three little ones out of her hand 
and carried them for her ? i. 



It is not enough merely not to hinder; 
we must help: for not helping generally 
amounts to hindering. e. 



Bearing in mind that it is not only the 
words which pass their lightly-hinged por- 
tal, but our literal lips which are to be 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 249 

kept for Jesus, it cannot be out of place. 

to suggest that they open both 

ways. What passes in should surely be 
considered as well as what passes out. 
And very many of us are beginning to see 
that the command, " Whether ye eat or 
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 
glory of God," is not fully obeyed when 
we drink, merely because we like it, what 
is the very greatest obstacle to that 
glory. c. 

How are you to know what He says to 
you ? Ah, it is so easy to know if we are 
really willing to know, and willing to obey 
when we do know! u 



Suppose a little child is going with its 
father through an untracked wood. If it 
walks ever such a little way apart, it will 
make many a lost step; and though the 
father will not let it get out of sight and 
hearing, will not let it get lost, yet he 
may let it find out for itself that going 



250 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

just the other side of this tree leads it 
into a hopeless thicket, and stepping just 
the other side of this stone leads it into a 
muddy place, and the little steps have tc 
be retraced again and again, till at last it 
asks the father to hold its hand, and puts 
and leaves its hand in his. Then, and not 
till then, there will be no lost step, for it 
is guided " on every side." g. 



Whatever relationship we most value 
or most miss, will be the very one which, 
whether by possession or loss, will show 
us most of Him, and yet fall short of His 
" reality." For we always have to go be- 
yond the type to reach the antitype, d. 



Yesterday was my last Sunday evening 
in [what had been] my father's home. I 
don't suppose I shall ever, exactly, have 
a home again. But I am very happy in 
the " stirring up" of the nest; every new 
experience of the " changes and chances" 
takes one into a new province of the land 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 251 

of promise. And I have my sister, and 
we are going to live together for the win- 
ter in South Wales. She is almost every- 
thing to me. b. 

The love of Christ is not an absorbing, 
but a radiating love. The more we love 
Him, the more we shall most certainly 
love others. Some have not much natural 
power of loving, but the love of Christ 
will strengthen it. Some have had the 
springs of love dried up by some terrible 

earthquake Some have spent it all 

on their God-given dear ones. Now He 
is come whose right it is; and yet, in the 
fullest resumption of that right, He is so 
gracious that He puts back an even larger 
measure of the old love into our hand, 
sanctified with His own love, and ener- 
gized with His blessing, and strengthened 
with His new commandment, " That ye 
love one another, as I have loved you." 

c. 

We may lose " people, " but we find 



25 2 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

"brethren," with all the love and pleas- 
ure and freedom of intercourse — yes, and 
even mirth— which that relationship brings. 
Is not this " much more " than the society 
of" people"? gm 

A master entrusts a workman with a 
delicate machine, with which his appointed 
work is to be done. He also provides him 
with a sum of money with which he is to 
procure all that may be necessary for 
keeping the machine in thorough repair. 
Is it not obvious that it is the man's dis- 
tinct duty to see to this faithfully ? Would 
he not be failing in duty if he chose to 
spend it all on something for somebody 
else's work, or on a present for his master, 
fancying that would please him better, 
while the machine is creaking and wear- 
ing for want of a little oil, or working 
badly for want of a new band or screw ? 
Just so, we are to spend what is really 
needful on ourselves, because it is oui 
charge to do so; but not for ourselves, 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 253 

because we are not our own, but our 
Master's. c. 

"Thy will be done." In applying this 
to sorrow, trial, and disappointment, do 
we not forget the brighter pendants to 
this tear-dropped jewel! "This is the 
will of God, even your sanctification." 
" Father, I will that they, whom Thou 
hast given Me, be with Me where I am." 
b. 

Shall we dare to sigh over " Thy will 
be done" ? Shall we not rather " submit 
ourselves wholly to His holy will and 
pleasure," bow under the very load of the 
benefits of His will in deepest adoration 
and intensest thanksgiving, and not wait 
for " the happier shore," but here and now 
sing out of the abundance of a simply be- 
lieving heart, " Thy will be done " ? For 
truly it is "good will to men." g. 



Think of the infinite mysteries of that 
will. For ages and generations the hosts 



2 54 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

of heaven have wonderingly watched its 
vouchsafed unveilings and its sublime de- 
velopments, and still they are waiting, 
watching, and wondering. 

Creation and Providence are but the 
whisper of its power, but Redemption is 
its music, and praise is the echo which 
shall yet fill His temple. c. 



"Thy will be done" is not a sigh, but 
only a song! b. 

The will is the very centre point of con- 
scious being; and as the nature is, so is 
the will. Now if God's nature is revealed 
to be Love, His will must be all love too. 
So when we are told that He worketh all 
things after the counsel of His will, that 
is the same as saying He worketh accord- 
ing to His love, — "the great love where- 
with He loveth us." k. 



I seemed led to run over the " Take my 
life," 1 and could bless Him verse by verse 

1 " Consecration Hymn " Poems t p. 235. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 255 

for having led me on to much more defi- 
nite consecration than even when I wrote 
it, voice, gold, intellect, etc. But the 
eleventh couplet, "love," — that has been 
unconsciously not filled up. Somehow, I 
felt mystified and out of my depth here: 
it was a simple and definite thing to be 
done, to settle the voice, or silver and 
gold ! but " love " ? I have to love others, 
and I do, and I've not a small treasure of 
it, and even loving in Him does not quite 
meet the inner difficulty. Of course, I 
told Him all that was in my heart as far 
down as ever I knew it myself, and that 
He knew the rest, and so I could only 
hand over the whole concern to Him, and 
implore Him to make it clear and definite. 
I don't see much clearer, or feel much dif- 
ferent; but I have said intensely this 
morning, " Take my love," and He knows 
I have. So I did not fidget any more, or 
worry the Master any more about it. I 
shall just go forward and expect Him tc 
fill it up, and let my life from this day an- 
swer really to that couplet. The worst 



2 5 6 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

part to me is that I don't in practice prove 
my love to Him, by delight in much and 
long communion with Him; hands and 
head seem so full of " other things," (which 
yet are His given work,) that "heart" 
seems not "free to serve" in fresh and 
vivid love. ^ # 

Let us look out for the "afterward" as 
soon as the pressure is past. This imme- 
diate expectation will bring its own bless- 
ing if we can say, " My expectation is from 
Him," and not from any fruit -bearing 
qualities of our own; for only "from Me 
is thy fruit found." Fruit from Him will 
also be fruit unto Him. 

What shall Thine afterward be, O Lord ? 

I wonder, and wait to see 
(While to Thy chastening hand I bow) 
What peaceable fruit may be ripening now, 

Ripening fast for Thee ! * 

/ 

" He hath given us rest by His sorrow, 
and life by His death;" "rest from thy 

1 "Peaceable Fruit," Poems, p. 107. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 257 

sorrow, and from thy fear, and from thy 
hard bondage wherein thou wast made to 
serve. " Come and take the gift ! It is 
gloriously real. It is no mere slight and 
temporary sense of relief. "We which 
have believed do enter into rest." e. 



I am quite satisfied to do half-day s 
work henceforth, if He pleases; and well 
I may be when I have plenty of proof 
that He can make a half-hour s work 
worth a whole day's if He will: yes, or 
half-a-minute's either ! b. 



The future is " one vista of brightness 
and blessedness " to those who are will- 
ing only to " walk in the light." f. 



I've come to the conclusion it will be 
very nice to go to heaven ! The perfect 
harmony, the perfect praise, no jarring 
tunes. You don't know the intense en- 
joyment it is to me to sing in part music, 



25 8 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

I don't think I could hear the Hallelujah 
Chorus and not sing it; but there— \ k. 



May not one ... . believe that if we are 
indeed God's chosen praise-harps, all that 
is not as yet tune is but the tuning, which 
is not in itself beautiful. k. 



I have no respite, I must make a little 
lull in life. 1 Whilst most thankful for suc- 
cess, I am almost alarmedly wondering 
whereunto this work will grow. Yet oh, 
how one wants Him to make the very 
most of all we have and are. k. 



I don't think I ever felt more thankful 
and glad for anything than on reaching 
this quiet little nest. 2 God has so gra- 
ciously and perfectly met our special need. 
I must pass on to you the last text I have 

1 " A Lull in Life," Poems, p. 231. 
"The Lull of Eternity," Id. p. 68. 

2 Caswell Bay, S. Wa'es. 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 259 

been enjoying, Exodus xv. 13; what can 
we want more ! and it is Thy mercy and 
strength all along. And then the "holy 
habitation" of the present, and the future 
one, from which we shall "go no more 
out." b. 

It seems to me that God has done for 
me more than He promised, not only 
supplying all my need, but all my no- 
tions Our present abode suits us so 

perfectly in all manner of little ways, that 
I tell our gracious Father I really don't 
know how to thank Him enough for it. . . . 
How I should like to meet my American 
friends ! But I dare not come over. I 
should be sick all the way, and only be a 
trouble to you; but, "there shall be no 
more sea ! " b. 



There is a dazzle of brightness upon 
even the darkest moments of my life; they 
all shine out in the glory of His love, 
even those which must still remain 
enigmas. b. 



260 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

He will give a sevenfold blessing: "My 
peace," "My joy," " My love," at once 
and always, now and forever; " My grace" 
and " My strength" for all the needs of 
our pilgrimage; " My rest" and "My 
glory " for all the grand sweet home-life 
of eternity with Him. f. 



You can't think the enjoyment it is to 
me to produce anything new. What 
books I should write if I had time ! I 
wonder if I shall always be so pressed 
with other things; but never mind, it is 
all " service." k. 



I rejoice in Him as my "Master" 
and "Sovereign," but I want to come 
nearer still, to have the full realization of 
John xiv. 21, and to know "the power of 
His resurrection," even if it be with the 
fellowship of His sufferings. And all this, 
not exactly for my own joy alone, but for 
others. b. 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 26 1 

We want Him to make us vessels meet 
for this great use; pure and transparent 
vessels through which His glorious life 
may shine; so transparent, that, like clear 
glass, they may be altogether lost sight of 
in the light which streams through them; 
so pure that they may not dim the radi- 
ance of His indwelling. d. 



"0 Lord, prepare me for all Thou 
art preparing for me"; that has been my 
life prayer. k. 

Look back at our early prayers. Has 
He not more than granted them ? did we 
even know how much He could do for us ? 
did He not answer prayer by opening out 
new vistas of prayer before us, giving us 
grace to ask for more grace, faith to plead 
for more faith ? /. 



"Rest!" There is none for me appar- 
ently. Every post brings more letters 
from strangers alone than I and my sister 



262 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

can answer. It is nine months since I 
have had a chance of doing a stroke of 
new work ! But letters were a trouble to 
Nehemiah as well as to me (Neh. vi. 4), 
and I must try to make it always work 
for my King. b. 

I do hope the angels will have orders to 
let me alone a bit, when I first get to 
heaven ! k. 

The music ! What will all the harps 
of heaven be to the thrill of the One 
Voice, saying, " Come, ye blessed of my 
Father ! " and, " Well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord." /. 

About your " Loving all Along." I 
wrote the music to suit myself, and I 
never yet found words which were so 
exactly what I wanted. I hope to sing 
it in many drawing-rooms, it is delightful 
to do the King's business there, and sing- 
ing often opens the door for quiet con- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 263 

versations. I do so pray the words may 
touch some weary hearts under silks and 

satins, and dress-coats too, maybe 

Now, two prayers, that God will make 
it acceptable, and most of all that He will 
let it do real work and send the great 
power of His Spirit with it. b. 



"The Son of God, who loved me, and 
gave Himself for meP Out of the real- 
ized "for me," grows the practical "for 
Thee ! " If the former is a living root, the 
latter will be its living fruit. c. 



Hebrews xii. 11.— Perhaps we read this 
promise with a sigh, and say: " How beau- 
tiful this is for those whom the Lord is 
really chastening ! I almost think I should 
not mind that, if such a promise might 
then be mine. But the things that try 
me are only little things that turn up 
every day to trouble and depress me." 
Well, now, does the Lord specify what 
degree of trouble, or what kind of trouble» 



264 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

is great enough to make up a claim to 
the promise ? And if He does not, why 
should you ? He only defines it as " not 
I joyous, but grievous." Perhaps there have 
been a dozen different things to-day which 
were " not joyous, but grievous" to you. 
And though you feel ashamed of feeling 
them so much, and hardly like to own to 
their having been so trying, and would 
not think of dignifying them as " chasten- 
ings ! " yet, if they come under the Lord's 
definition, He not only knows all about 
them, but they were, every one of them, 
chastenings from His hand; neither to be 
despised and called "just nothing" when 
all the while they did "grieve" you; nor 
to be wearied of; because they are work- 
ing out blessing to you and glory to Him. 
Every one of them has been an unrecog- 
nized token of His love and interest in 
you; for " whom the Lord loveth He chas- 
teneth." f % 

That splendid sovereign will of our God, 
made up of infinite love and infinite wis- 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 265 

dom, nothing seems out of perspective 
when this is our standpoint; all His words 
and all His ways then stand out, harmo- 
nized and beautiful. k. 



Is it not so ? Bear witness, tell it out, 
you with whom the King dwells in peace ! 
Life is filled with bright interests, time 
is filled with happy work or peaceful wait- 
ing, the mind is filled with His beautiful 
words and thoughts, the heart is filled 
with His presence, and you " abide satis- 
fied " with Him ! Yes, " tell it out ! " d. 



" God's will is delicious; He makes no 
mistakes." 1 *. 



The word of our King is all we have 
and all we need for deep, utter heart-rest, 
which no surface waves of this trouble- 
some world can disturb. d. 

1 Tiiis "crimson thread," and all that follow, marked 
likewise with an asterisk (*), are from the loving record of 
Miss Havergal's last words made by her, sister; and serve to 
show with what triumphant faith she « entered into rest." 



266 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

Would our King tell us again and again > 
" Fear not !" if there were any reason at 
all to fear? Would He say this kind 
word again and again, ringing changes 
as of the bells of heaven upon it, only to 
mock us, if He knew all the time that we 
could not possibly help fearing ? Only 
give half an hour to seeking out the rea- 
sons He gives why we are not to fear, and 
the all-inclusive circumstances in which 
He says we are not to fear; see how we 
are to fear nothing, and no one, and never, 
and nowhere; see how He Himself is in 
every case the foundation and the grand 
reason of His command, His presence and 
His power always behind it; and then 
shall we hesitate to say, " I will fear no 
evil: for Thou art with me"? Shall we 
even fancy there is any answer to those 
grand and for ever unanswered questions, 
"The Lord is my light and my salva- 
tion; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the 
strength of my life; of whom shall I be 
afraid ? " g% 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL: 267 

1 am sure " I am not worthy to be called 
His son," or His servant, but Jesus covers 
all; I am unworthy, but in Him com- 
plete." * 

Why does the sap flow from the vine to 
the branch ? . Simply because the branch 
is joined to the vine. Then the sap flows 
into it by the very law of its nature. So, 
being joined to our Lord Jesus by faith, 
that which is His becomes ours, and flows 
into us by the very law of our spiritual 
life. If there were no hindrance, it would 
indeed flow as a river." f. 



There is a solemn side to it. He not 
only says nothing about making interces- 
sion for those who do not come, but He 
plainly and positively says, "I pray not 
for the world, but for them which Thou 
hast given Me." g. 



Personal acceptance comes first. We 
must be "accepted in the Beloved" be- 



268 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

fore we can look to be answered through 
the Beloved. Is there a doubt about this, 
and a sigh over the words ? There need 
not be; for now, at this moment, the old 
promise stands with its unchangeable wel- 
come to the weary: " Him that cometh 
to Me I will in no wise cast out." d. 



God is dealing differently with me in 
this illness; I don't know what He means 
by it; no new thoughts for books or poems 
come now. * 

If I am going, it is too good to be 
true ! • 

He is not sending us forth away from 
Him, but only putting us forth with His 
own gentle hand, saying, "Rise up, My 
love, and come away," " Come with 
Me." e . 

So beautiful to go! *. 



There is a beautiful type which tells us 
how a maiden was chosen to be the bride 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 269 

of the son of " a mighty prince " in a far- 
off land. She was to answer for herself 
about it, and so " they said, We will call 
the damsel and inquire at her mouth. 
And they called Rebekah, and said, Wilt 
thou go with this man ? And she said, / 
will go T e. 

'Spite of the breakers, Marie, I am so 
happy; God's promises are so true. Not 
a fear. *. 

The waves are stilled, and the storm- 
clouds flee away noiselessly and swiftly 
and surely, when He lifts up the light of 
His countenance upon us, and gives us 
peace. For this uplifting is the shining 
forth of His favor, — the smile instead of 
the frown; and as we walk in the light of 
it, the peace will grow into joy, and we 
shall be even here and now "exceeding 
glad with Thy countenance," while every 
step will bring us nearer to the resurrec- 
tion joy of Christ Himself, saying with 
Him, "Thou shalt make me full of joy 
with Thy countenance." d. 



270 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

I have peace, but it's Himself I am 
'onging for. *• 

When His glorious beauty has so filled 
our eyes, and His incomprehensible love 
has so filled our hearts, that He is first, 
and most, and dearest of all, — when we 
can say not merely, "The desire of our 
souls is to Thy name," but " There is none 
upon earth that I desire beside Thee," — 
when thus we are, to the very depth of 
our being really and entirely our Beloved's, 
then we may add, in solemn, wondering 
gladness, "And His desire is toward 
me." d. 



The darkness shall be verily the shadow 
of His wing, for your feeble, yet Spirit- 
given remembrance, shall be met by His 
real and actual presence, for "hath He 
said and shall He not do it ? " f. 



Splendid to be so near the gates oj 



heaven! 



¥t 



FRANCES RIDLE Y HA VERGAL. 2 7 1 

The banquet of everlasting joy for those 
who gave Him meat; the river of His 
pleasures for those who gave Him drink; 
the mansions in the Father's home for 
those who took the stranger in; the white 
robes for those who clothed the naked; 
the tree of life and "no more pain" for 
those who visited the sick; the "glorious 
liberty" for those who came unto the 
prisoner; the crown of all, the repeatedly 
promised "with Me" for those who were 
content to be with His sorrowful or suf- 
fering ones for His sake. d. 



As our own hearts are filled with the 
intense joy of consecration to our Lord, a 
yet intenser glow will come as we remem- 
ber that His joy is greater than ours, for 
He is anointed "with the oil of gladness 
above" His "fellows." d. 



He must keep His word. 



I never find that He fails to respond tc 



272 GOLDEN THOUGHTS, 

trust; it is indeed "whatsoever" in its ful- 
ness. And now I see that "able" means 
able, and "all" means all. b. 



"Heabideth faithful." All the earth- 
born or devil-breathed fogs and clouds of 
doubt, from the fall till this hour, have 
not been able to touch the splendor of 
one star that He has set in the unassail- 
able firmament of His eternal truth, f. 



I am lost in amazement ! There hath 
not failed one word of all His good prom- 
ise ! *. 

Forget the things which are behind, 
and press on to firmer grasp and fuller 
reception of Christ and His joy. f. 



Jesus is coming! Could anything be 
happier news ? I think we shall not think 
much about the sound of the trumpet, 
and the clouds of glory, and all the holy 
angels that come with Him; we shall 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVER GAL. 273 

" see Jesus," and hear His own voice, and 
that will fill our eyes and our hearts for 
ever. ] tt 

That word " blessed " seems to me like 
a grand outline, traced with one sweep of 
Jehovah's mighty pencil; and who shall 
say what the filling up shall be? Because, 
you see, it is not our idea of " blessed," but 
God's own idea of it that will fill it up. b. 



Blessed rest! 



" Most blessed."— " Most ! " How shall 
we reach that thought ? Make a shining 
stairway of every bright beatitude in the 
Bible, blessed upon blessed, within and 
also far beyond our own experience. And 
when we have built them up till they 
reach unto heaven, still this " most bless- 
ed " is beyond, out of our sight, in the 
unapproachable glory of God Himself. 
It will always be "most," for it is "for 
ever" — everlasting light without a shadow, 
everlasting songs without a minor. f. 



2 74 GOLDEN THOUGHTS. 

"If a man keep My saying he shall 
never see death;" so, when we come to 
die, our eyes will so really see Jesus Him- 
se/f that we shall not see death. k. 



Master, I set my seal that Thou art true, 

Of Thy good promise not one thing hath failed ! 

And I would send a ringing challenge forth 

To all who know Thy name to tell it out, 

Thy faithfulness to every written word, 

Thy loving-kindness crowning all the days; — 

To say and sing with me: " The Lord is good, 

His mercy is forever, and His truth 

Is written on each page of all my life \ " > 

1 "The Two Paths," Poems, p. 357. 



END. 



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029 789 439 



